Sylvia discolor, Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 37, pl. xcviii.—Bon.; Aud. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xiv; Nutt.—Lembeye, Aves Cuba, 1850, 32, pl. vi, fig. 2. Sylvicola discolor, Jard.; Rich.; Bon.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. xcvii.—Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 159. Rhimanphus discolor, Cab. Jour. III, 1855, 474 (Cuba; winter). Dendroica discolor, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 290; Rev. 213.—Newton, Ibis, 1859, 144 (St. Croix).—Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859 (Bahamas).—Ib. 1866 (Porto Rico); 1867, 91 (Hayti).—Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; very common).—Samuels, 241. Sylvia minuta, Wilson, III, pl. xxv. fig. 4.
Sp. Char. Spring male. Above uniform olive-green; the interscapular region with chestnut-red centres to feathers. Under parts and sides of the head, including a broad superciliary line from the nostrils to a little behind the eye, bright yellow, brightest anteriorly. A well-defined narrow stripe from the commissure of the mouth through the eye, and another from the same point curving gently below it, also a series of streaks on each side of the body, extending from the throat to the flanks, black. Quills and tail-feathers brown, edged with white; the terminal half of the inner web of the first and second tail-feathers white. Two yellowish bands on the wings. Female similar, but duller. The dorsal streaks indistinct. Length, 4.86; wing, 2.25; tail, 2.10.
First plumage of the young not seen.
Hab. Atlantic region of United States, north to Massachusetts; South Illinois; in winter very abundant throughout all the West India Islands, as far, at least, as the Virgin Islands. Not recorded from Mexico or Central America.
Autumnal specimens have the plumage more blended, but the markings not changed. A young male in autumnal dress is wholly brownish olive-green above, the whole wing uniform; the forehead ashy, the markings about the head rather obsolete, the chestnut spots on the back and the black ones on the sides nearly concealed.
Habits. The Prairie Warbler, nowhere an abundant species, is pretty generally, though somewhat irregularly, distributed through the eastern portion of the United States from Massachusetts to Georgia during its breeding-season. The Smithsonian Museum embraces no specimens taken west of Philadelphia or Washington. I have had its nest and eggs found in Central New York. Mr. Audubon speaks of its occurring in Louisiana, but his accounts of its nesting are so obviously inaccurate that we must receive this statement also with misgivings. Wilson, however, obtained specimens in Kentucky, and gave to it the inappropriate name of Prairie Warbler. Nuttall regarded it as rare in New England, which opinion more careful observations do not confirm. They certainly are not rare in certain portions of Massachusetts. In Essex County, and, according to Mr. Allen, in the vicinity of Springfield, they are rather common. The Smithsonian possesses specimens from the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and other West India islands. Dr. Gundlach speaks of it as common in Cuba. In the Bahamas, Dr. Bryant found these Warblers more abundant than he had ever known them in the United States. In January all the males were in winter
plumage, some not having changed by April to their summer costume. He regarded them as constant residents of those islands. They had all paired off by the middle of April.
In the island of St. Croix, Mr. Edward Newton observed these Warblers from the 10th of September to the 27th of March. They were present on the island about two thirds of the year, and while they were found were very common.
In Jamaica, according to Mr. March, they are numerous throughout the entire year, though less abundant during the summer months. They were always plentiful in the gardens about the Malpighia glabra, capturing small insects from the ripe fruit.
Mr. Gosse, on the contrary, regarded it as only a winter visitant of that island, appearing by the 18th of August, and disappearing by the 11th of April. He observed them among low bushes and herbaceous weeds, along the roadside, near the ground, examining every stalk and twig for insects. Others flew from bushes by the wayside to the middle of the road, where, hovering in the air, a few feet from the ground, they seemed to be catching small dipterous insects. Their stomachs were filled with fragments of insects.