Sp. Char. Male. Bill black; feet pale yellow. Head and neck all round and forepart of the breast black. A broad patch on the forehead extending round on the entire cheeks and ear-coverts, with the under parts, bright yellow. Upper parts and sides of the body olive-green. Greater portion of inner web of outer three tail-feathers white.
Female similar, but without the black; the crown like the back; the forehead yellowish; the sides of the head yellow, tinged with olive on the lores and ear-coverts. Throat bright yellow.
Length, 5.00; wing, 2.75; tail, 2.55. (Skin.)
Hab. Eastern Province of United States, rather southern; Bermuda; Cuba; Jamaica; Eastern Mexico; Honduras and Guatemala to Panama R. R. Orizaba (autumn, Sumichrast); Yucatan (Lawrence).
A young male in second year (2,245, Carlisle, Penn., May) is similar to the female, but the hood is sharply defined anteriorly, though only bordered with black, the olive-green reaching forward almost to the yellow; there are only very slight indications of black on the throat. Apparently the male of this species does not attain the full plumage until at least the third year, as is the case with Setophaga ruticilla.
Myiodioctes pusillus.
Habits. This beautiful and singularly marked Warbler is a Southern species, though not exclusively so. It is more abundant in South Carolina than any other State, so far as I am aware. It is, however, found as far to the north as Northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and Southern New York, and, farther west, as far north as the shores of Lake Erie. It has also been found in Bermuda, Cuba, Jamaica, Eastern Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Throughout Central America it appears to be abundant during the winter.
Mr. Audubon also states that it abounds in Louisiana and along the banks of the Mississippi and the Ohio. It occurs on the Hudson to some distance above New York. It appears from the South early in March, and has young already hatched, in Louisiana, early in May.
It is said to be one of the liveliest of its tribe, and to be almost constantly in motion. It is fond of secluded places, and is equally common in the thick canebrakes, both of the high and the low lands, and in the tangled undergrowth of impenetrable swamps. It has a peculiarly graceful manner of closing and opening its broad tail, that at once distinguishes it from every other bird, as it gambols from tree to tree, now in sight, and now hid from the eye, but ever within hearing.