In 1811, near the end of his life, poet, ornithologist, naturalist and illustrator Alexander Wilson named this common North American warbler after observing it for the first time in the branches of a Mississippi magnolia tree. This bird, which breeds in spruce trees near the Canadian border of the United States and in Canada, is commonly called the Black and Yellow Warbler.
Wilson was born in Paisley, Scotland, the son of an illiterate distiller. In 1779 he was apprenticed as a weaver. His main interest at this time was in writing poetry, and his poems commenting on the unfair treatment of the weavers by their employers got him into trouble with the authorities. (Wikipedia)
This young warbler lost its life in September 2007 after it crashed into a building window at the corner of Prairie Avenue and Cullerton Street, Chicago. The bird is now in the collection of The Field Museum.