Chapter C: S. Paine, of East Bethel, Vt., found a nest of this species about (5)

HABITS. The Nashville Warbler appears to be a species of somewhat irregular occurrence; at one time it will be rather abundant, though never very numerous, and at another time comparatively rare. For a long while our older naturalists regarded it as a very rare species, and knew nothing as to its habits or distribution. Wilson, who first met with it in 1811, never found more than three specimens, which he procured near Nashville, Tenn. Audubon only met with three or four, and these he obtained in Louisiana and Kentucky. These and a few others in Titian Peale’s collection, supposed to have been obtained in Pennsylvania, were all he ever saw. Mr. Nuttall at first regarded it as very rare, and as a Southern species. In that writer’s later edition he speaks of it as a bird having a Northern distribution as far as Labrador. Dr. Richardson records the occurrence of a single straggler in the fur country. So far as known, it occurs as a migrant in all the States east of the Missouri, and is a summer resident north of the 40th parallel. It probably breeds in the high ground of Pennsylvania, though this fact is inferred rather than known. It breeds in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and in Maine in the vicinity of Calais, being more abundant there than anywhere else, as far as has been ascertained.

Two individuals of this species have been taken in Greenland: one at Godthaab, in 1835; and the other at Fiskenæsset, August 31, 1840.

In Massachusetts it has so far been found in only a few restricted localities, Andover, Lynn, and Hudson, though it undoubtedly occurs elsewhere. About the time Wilson obtained his first specimen, a living bird of this species flew into the parlor of the late Colonel Thomas H. Perkins of Brookline, and is now in the collection of his grandson, Dr. Cabot. The latter gentleman states that when he first began making collections this Warbler was a very rare visitant to his neighborhood, but has of late become much more common, though varying greatly in this respect in different seasons. Specimens have been obtained in Western Iowa by Mr. H. W. Parker, of Grinnell.

A few instances of its occurrence west of the Mississippi Valley are known. One of these was by Xantus near Fort Tejon; another near Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Nevada, by Mr. Gruber; and in the East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, by Mr. Ridgway. Specimens of this Warbler were obtained in the winter by M. Boucard at Oaxaca, Mexico.

In the summer of 1854, Mr. Charles S. Paine found it breeding in Randolph, Vt., but was unable to discover the nest. “They spend the summer,” he wrote, “among low bushes, and probably build their nests among the thickets. I have watched their movements on several occasions. Once I detected an old bird with food in her bill about to feed her young. I could hear the young birds, yet was unable to find the nest.” Two years later, Mr. George O. Welch, of Lynn, found the nest of this Warbler on the ground in a small thicket. It contained young partially fledged, and one egg unhatched. The nest was built in a slight depression, in a dry place, among fallen leaves and in the shelter of a thicket of young oak-trees. This egg in shape was of a rounded oval, and measured .59 by .50 of an inch; one end was slightly more pointed than the other. The ground-color was white, slightly tinged with pink, and marked over the entire surface with purplish-brown dots. Around the larger end these spots form a beautiful wreath of confluent markings. Since then other nests have been found in the same locality, all on the ground and built in like situations. They have a diameter of four and a height of two inches. The cavity has a diameter of two and a depth of one and a quarter inches. The outer portions are built of dry mosses, intermingled with strips of the bark of the wild grape and the red cedar and a few herbaceous twigs, and lined with a thick layer of dried carices, small leaves of the white pine, and fine grasses. The whole structure is loosely put together. The nests are generally concealed by overarching leaves, which, however, form no part of the nest itself.

The late Elijah P. Barrow, of Andover, Mass., a young naturalist of much promise, found several nests of this rare Warbler, all of which were concealed by grass. The eggs he found varied in length from .59 to .61 of an inch, and in breadth from .50 to .51 of an inch. Both parents, as observed by him, were entirely silent.

The Nashville Warbler has been said to be a comparatively silent and songless bird, rarely giving forth any sounds, and these are compared by Dr. Richardson to the creaking noise made by the whetting of a saw. Wilson compares these sounds to the cracking of dry twigs or the striking together of small pebbles. Mr. J. A. Allen speaks of its song as being similar to that of the Chestnut-sided Warbler, which latter bird, as is well known, has notes so closely resembling those of the Summer Yellow-Bird that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other by their notes. Mr. T. M. Trippe states, also, that this Warbler has a very fine song, resembling that of the Summer Yellow-Bird more nearly than any other.

These Warblers arrive in Massachusetts about the first of May, and remain about three weeks, when the larger portion move farther north.

More recently Mr. Paine writes me that the Nashville Warbler has of late years become a common bird in certain localities in Central Vermont. They come and keep company with the Canada Warbler, but are more restless than that species at the time of their first appearance. They always in the breeding-season take up their abode in thickets, where there are also tall trees. Mr. Paine adds that their song consists of repetitions of single notes, the last terminating somewhat abruptly. Their song ceases by the 10th of June. After their young are ready to fly, they disperse about the woods and fields, and are then not readily discovered.

Helminthophaga virginiæ, BAIRD.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN WARBLER; VIRGINIA’S WARBLER.

_Helminthophaga virginiæ_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. under explanation of
plates, 1860, xi, pl. lxxix, fig. I (Fort Burgwyn, N. M.); Rev.
177.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 85.

SP. CHAR. Somewhat like _H. ruficapilla_. _Male._ Top and sides of head, back, and wings light ashy-plumbeous; quills and tail-feathers brown, edged with pure ashy-plumbeous, the latter indistinctly and narrowly margined with whitish internally and at the end. Rump, with upper and lower tail-coverts, bright yellow, in vivid contrast with the rest of the body. Crown with a concealed patch of rich chestnut. Rest of under parts brownish-white, with a patch of rich yellow on the jugulum. Inside of wings and axillars pure white. A white ring round the eye. Bill and legs dusky. The colors much duller in autumn.

_Female, spring._ Similar to the male, but chestnut spot on crown obsolete, the yellow jugular patch less distinct, the upper tail-coverts more greenish, and the lower less rich yellow.

Length, 5.00; extent, 7.25; wing, 2.50 when fresh. Dried skin: length, 4.90; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.20; tarsus, .67.

HAB. Southern Rocky Mountains (Middle Province of United States); East Humboldt, Wahsatch, and Uintah Mountains.

A young bird (No. 53,355, East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, August 5) is olive-gray above, becoming green on the rump and upper tail-coverts; the middle and secondary coverts narrowly tipped with pale grayish-buff, producing two indistinct bands. The lower parts are pale dirty-buff, except the lower tail-coverts, which are lemon-yellow; there is scarcely a tinge of yellow on the jugulum, and not a trace of chestnut on the crown.

HABITS. But little is as yet known in regard to the habits and distribution of this somewhat rare and recently discovered species. It was first met with by Dr. W. W. Anderson, at Fort Burgwyn in New Mexico, and described by Professor Baird in 1860, in a note to the explanation of Vol. II. of the Birds of North America. It was named in honor of Mrs. Virginia Anderson, the wife of its discoverer. An immature individual of this species was obtained August 15, 1864, by Dr. Coues, at Fort Whipple, near Prescott, in the Territory of Arizona. As it bears a close resemblance to the _Helminthophaga ruficapilla_, it is not improbable that its habits bear a very close resemblance to those of that species.

In the summer of 1869, Mr. Robert Ridgway was so fortunate as to meet with the nest and eggs of this bird near Salt Lake, Utah (Smith. Coll. 15,239). This was June 9. The nest was embedded in the deposits of dead or decaying leaves, on ground covered by dense oak-brush. Its rim was just even with the surface. It was built on the side of a narrow ravine at the bottom of which was a small stream. The nest itself is two inches in depth by three and a half in diameter. It consists of a loose but intricate interweaving of fine strips of the inner bark of the mountain mahogany, fine stems of grasses, roots, and mosses, and is lined with the same with the addition of the fur and hair of the smaller animals.

The eggs were four in number, and measure .64 by .47 of an inch. They are of a rounded-ovoid shape, have a white ground with a slightly roseate tinge, and are profusely spotted with numerous small blotches and dots of purplish-brown and lilac, forming a crown around the larger end.

This bird was first observed by Mr. Ridgway among the cedars and pines of the East Humboldt Mountains, where in July it was quite common. It was very abundant in the Wahsatch Mountains near Salt Lake City, throughout the summer chiefly inhabiting the thickets of scrub-oak on the slopes of the cañons in which they nested, and where they were daily seen, but where, owing to the thickness of the bushes, they were with difficulty obtained. He describes its song as almost exactly like that of _Dendroica æstiva_. The usual note is a soft _pit_, quite different from the sharp _chip_ of _H. celata_.

Helminthophaga luciæ, COOPER.

LUCY’S WARBLER.

_Helminthophaga luciæ_, COOPER, Pr. Cal. Acad. July, 1861, 120 (Fort
Mohave).—BAIRD, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 178.—ELLIOT, Illust. Birds N.
Am. I, v.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 84.

SP. CHAR. General form and size that of _H. ruficapilla_. Above light-cinereous; beneath white, having a soiled, very pale buff, almost white tinge on the throat, breast, and flanks. A patch on the vertex, as in _H. ruficapilla_, and the upper tail-coverts, dark chestnut-brown. Lores to nostrils and region round the eye, like the throat, in rather decided contrast to the ash of the crown. Quills and tail-feathers brown, narrowly edged externally with gray. An obsolete terminal white patch on the inner web of the outer feather; this web in most of the other tail-feathers likewise narrowly edged with white. Axillars and inner face of wings white. Iris brown. Tarsi blue. Length, in life, 4.40; extent, 6.90; wing, 2.40. Length of skin, 3.90; wing, 2.33; tail, 1.86; tarsus, .64; middle toe and claw, .50; bill above, .35; gape, .50.

HAB. Fort Mohave, Colorado River (Middle Province of United States); Fort Whipple, Arizona.

HABITS. This is also a new or recently discovered species of this interesting group of Warblers. In regard to its nest and eggs nothing is positively ascertained, yet as all the birds of this genus are known to build on the ground, and to have a great uniformity in the characteristics of their eggs, it seems to be a matter of natural inference that this species also is a ground builder, and has eggs similar to those of the Nashville Warbler. For the little we know in regard to its habits and distribution, we are indebted to the observations of Dr. J. G. Cooper of California, who first discovered it, and to Dr. Coues, who has since met with it in Arizona.

Dr. Cooper first observed this species near Fort Mohave, where it made its appearance about the last of March. His attention was called to it by its peculiar notes, resembling those of some _Dendroicæ_, but fainter. After considerable watching and scrambling through dense mezquite thickets in its pursuit, he succeeded in shooting one, and found it to be a new species. Afterwards they became more numerous, frequenting the tops of the mezquite-trees in pursuit of insects, and constantly uttering their short but pleasing notes. About ten days after the first appearance of the males, Dr. Cooper obtained the first female, and thinks that without doubt they are much later in their migrations, as is the case with other Warblers. He was not able to discover their nest, having to leave the valley late in May.

Mr. Holden obtained other specimens of this bird, near the 34th parallel, in March of 1863.

Dr. Coues met with three individuals of this species near Fort Whipple, where it is a summer resident. It arrives there between the 15th and the 20th of April, and remains until the latter part of September. It mates about the last of April, and the young birds appear early in June.

Dr. Coues regards its habits as more like those of the true Ground Warblers than those of the other species of this group. It shows a decided preference for thickets and copses, rather than for high open woods, and is also an exceedingly shy and retiring species. To the extreme difficulty of observing or procuring it Dr. Coues attributes its having so long remained unnoticed.

It is described as exceedingly active in all its motions, and quite as restless as a _Polioptila_, to which class, in its colors, it also bears a close resemblance. The only note Dr. Coues ever heard it utter was a quick and often repeated _tsip_, as slender and as wiry as that of a Gnatcatcher. Dr. Cooper, however, has described its song as rich and pleasing, the little performer being mounted on the top of some mezquite or other bush. Dr. Cooper supposes this species to breed, not in the Colorado Valley, but in the more mountainous regions.

Dr. Coues hazards the conjecture that this bird builds in low bushes. Should it prove so, it would in this respect differ from all the other members of this well-marked group, and from the other Ground Warblers, which, in its general habits, it so much resembles.

Helminthophaga celata, var. celata, BAIRD.

ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER.

_Sylvia celata_, SAY, Long’s Exp. R. Mts. I, 1823, 169.—BON. Am.
Orn. I, pl. v, fig. 2.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, pl. clxxviii.
_Sylvicola cel._ RICH. _Vermivora cel._ JARD. _Helinaia cel._ AUD.
Birds Am. II, pl. cxii. _Helmitherus cel._ BON.—SCLATER, P. Z. S.
1857, 212 (Orizaba). _Helminthophaga cel._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 257; Rev. Am. Birds, I, 1865, 176 (in part).—DALL &
BANNISTER (Alaska).—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oaxaca,
December); 1859, 373; 1862, 19 (La Parada). _H. celata_, var.
_celata_, RIDGW. Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par.

SP. CHAR. Above grayish olive-green, rather brighter on the rump. Beneath entirely greenish yellowish-white, except a little whitish about the anus; the sides tinged with grayish-olivaceous. A concealed patch of pale orange-rufous on the crown, hidden by the grayish tips to the feathers. Eyelids and an obscure superciliary line yellowish-white, a dusky obscure streak through the eye. Inner webs of tail-feathers broadly edged with white. _Female_ with little or none of the orange on the crown, and the white edgings to inner webs of tail-feathers. _Young_ lacking the orange entirely, and with two fulvous-whitish bands on the wing. Length, 4.70; wing, 2.25; tail, 2.00.

HAB. Middle Province of North America; Yukon and McKenzie River district. Very rare in the Eastern Province of United States; Mexico in winter; Oaxaca, La Parada, (SCLATER); Orizaba, winter (SUMICHRAST).

This variety inhabits the interior regions of North America, from the Yukon southward into Mexico; westward, its range meets that of the var. _lutescens_ at about the meridian of 116°, while eastward it extends beyond the Mississippi, though rare east of the latter region. Specimens from Southern Illinois (where it is abundant in its migrations) and from Wisconsin are precisely like Rocky Mountain examples; but several in the collection before us from the South Atlantic States (Florida, Georgia, etc.) are so different as almost to warrant their separation as a different variety. These individuals are most like the style of the interior,—var. _celata_,—but are even less yellowish, and the whole plumage is very dark and dingy; all of them, too, lack any trace whatever of orange on the crown. Should all specimens from this region agree in the latter respect, the series from the Southeastern States is certainly entitled to recognition as a variety, for which we propose the name _obscura_.

HABITS. The geographical distribution of _H. celata_ is involved in some doubt, owing probably to its irregularity of migration. In a few occasional instances this species has been observed in the Atlantic States. Several have been obtained near Philadelphia. Mr. Audubon affirms to having seen it in the Middle States about the 10th of May, and in Maine later in the month. Beyond that he did not trace it. Mr. J. A. Allen procured one specimen of this bird in Springfield, Mass., May 15, 1863. There were quite a number among the fruit-trees of the garden and orchard, then in bloom, and, mistaking them for _Helminthophaga ruficapilla_, he at first neglected to shoot any, until, being in doubt, he procured one, and found it the Orange-Crown. The group passed on, and one was all he obtained. It is not given by Mr. Turnbull as one of the birds of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, nor by Mr. Boardman or Professor Verrill as occurring in Maine. I am informed by Mr. Ridgway that it is a regular spring and autumn migrant in Southern Illinois, and in some seasons is quite common.

It was taken as a migratory species at Oaxaca, Mexico, during the winter months, by M. A. Boucard.

Mr. Audubon’s account of the habits and movements of this species must be received with much caution. His description of its nest is entirely inaccurate, and much that he attributes to this species we have reason to believe relates to the habits of other birds.

On the Pacific coast it seems to be quite abundant, at different seasons, from Cape St. Lucas to the arctic regions, where it breeds. Mr. Kennicott obtained several specimens at Fort Yukon and at Fort Resolution, and Mr. Boss met with them at Fort Simpson. Xantus obtained these birds both at Fort Tejon and at Cape St. Lucas. It is common in Southern California during the winter, frequenting low bushes and the margins of streams. Dr. Gambel met with it in early spring on the island of Santa Catalina, where he had an opportunity of listening to its simple and lively song. This he describes as commencing in a low, sweet trill, and ending in _tshe-up_. It is sometimes considerably varied, but is described as generally resembling _er-r,r,r,r-shè-up_.

Dr. Cooper speaks of this Warbler as an abundant and constant resident of California, near the coast, and found in summer throughout the Sierra Nevada. In March they begin to sing their simple trill, which, he says, is rather musical, and audible for a long distance.

Dr. Coues met with this Warbler in Arizona, at Fort Yuma, September 17, at Fort Mohave, October 1, and also at the head-waters of Bill Williams River. Lieutenant Couch found it at Brownsville, Tex., seeking its food and making its home among the low shrubbery.

Dr. Suckley found it very abundant at Fort Steilacoom, in Washington Territory, where it kept in shady places among thick brush, generally in the vicinity of watercourses. Dr. Heermann found a few pairs incubating near the summits of the highest mountains on the Colorado River. The nests of this species, seen by Mr. Kennicott, were uniformly on the ground, generally among clumps of low bushes, often in the side of a bank, and usually hidden by the dry leaves among which they were placed. He met with these nests in the middle of June in the vicinity of Great Slave Lake. They were large for the size of the bird, having an external diameter of four inches, and a height of two and a half, and appearing as if made of two or three distinct fabrics, one within the other, of nearly the same materials. The external portions of these nests were composed almost entirely of long, coarse strips of bark loosely interwoven with a few dry grasses and stems of plants. Within it is a more elaborately interwoven structure of finer dry grasses and mosses. These are softly and warmly lined with hair and fur of small animals.

Nests from more arctic regions are of a different style of structure, homogeneous in materials,—which are chiefly stems of small plants and the finer grasses,—and are of a more compact make and smaller in size.

Their eggs are from four to six in number, and vary in length from .70 to .60 of an inch, and in breadth from .50 to .45 of an inch. They have a clear white ground, marked with spots and small blotches of reddish-brown and fainter marking of purplish-slate. The number of spots varies greatly, some eggs being nearly unspotted, others profusely covered.

Mr. Ridgway met with this Warbler in great abundance during its autumnal migration among the shrubbery along the streams of the Sierra Nevada, at all altitudes. In summer it was only seen among the high aspen woods on the Wahsatch Mountains. Fully fledged young birds were numerous in July and August. Their usual note was a sharp _chip_.

This bird was found breeding near Fort Resolution, on the Yukon, at Fort Rae, and at Fort Anderson.

The notice of geographical distribution of the different races, at the beginning of the article, will serve to show to what varieties the preceding remarks severally belong.

Helminthophaga celata, var. lutescens, RIDGWAY.

PACIFIC ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER.

_Helminthophaga celata_, COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. XII, ii, 1859,
178.—LORD, Pr. R. Art. Inst. Woolwich, IV, 1864, 115.—BAIRD, Rev.
Am. Birds, I, 1865, 176 (in part).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 83.
_H. celata_, var. _lutescens_, RIDGWAY, Report U. S. Geol. Expl.
40th Par.

SP. CHAR. _Male._ Upper surface continuous bright olive-green. Whole lower parts, including superciliary stripe and eyelids, bright yellow, almost gamboge; abdomen somewhat whitish. Inner webs of tail-feathers just perceptibly edged with white. Whole crown bright orange-rufous, scarcely concealed. Wing, 2.40; tail, 1.90; bill, .40; tarsus, .67; middle toe, .45. Wing-formula, 2, 3, 1, 4. _Female._ Similar, but orange of crown almost obsolete. Wing, 2.30; tail, 1.90. _Young of the year._ Similar to adult, but with a brownish tinge above; middle and secondary coverts tipped with dull fulvous, furry, inconspicuous bands. No trace of orange on the crown.

HAB. Pacific Province of North America, from Alaska to Cape St. Lucas. Straggling eastward to about the 116th meridian. Not found in Mexico?

The differences between the Pacific coast specimens of the _H. celata_ and those from the interior regions—first pointed out in the Review of American Birds—are very readily appreciable upon a comparison of specimens. The present bird is a coast variety, entirely replacing the true _celata_ (var. _celata_) in the region above indicated.

Helminthophaga peregrina, CABAN.

TENNESSEE WARBLER.

_Sylvia peregrina_, WILS. Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 83, pl. xxv, fig. 2.—AUD.
Orn. Biog. II, pl. cliv. _Sylvicola per._ RICH. _Vermivora per._
BON. _Helinaia per._ AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. cx. _Helmitherus per._
BON. _Helminthophaga per._ CAB. Mus. Hein.—IB. Jour. Orn. 1861, 85
(Costa Rica).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 258; Rev. 178.—SCLATER &
SALVIN, Ibis, 1860, 31 (Guatemala).—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1859, 373
(Oaxaca); Catal. 1861, 29, no. 180.—LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc.
1861, 322 (Panama).—GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba, very
rare). _Sylvia tennessæi_, VIEILLOT, Encycl. Méth. II, 1823, 452.
_? Sylvia missuriensis_, MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 117.

SP. CHAR. Top and sides of the head and neck ash-gray; rest of upper parts olive-green, brightest on the rump. Beneath dull white, faintly tinged in places, especially on the sides, with yellowish-olive. Eyelids and a stripe over the eye whitish; a dusky line from the eye to the bill. Outer tail-feather with a white spot along the inner edge near the tip. _Female_ with the ash of the head less conspicuous; the under parts more tinged with olive-yellow. Length, 4.50; wing, 2.75; tail, 1.85.

HAB. Eastern Province of North America; Calais, Me.; north to Fort Simpson, H. B. T.; Mexico; Oaxaca? Guatemala; Costa Rica; Panama R. R. Very rare in Cuba. Veragua (SALVIN). Chiriqui (LAWRENCE).

Autumnal specimens and young birds are sometimes so strongly tinged with greenish-yellow as to be scarcely distinguishable from _H. celata_. The wing is, however, always longer, and the obscure whitish patch on the inner edge of the exterior tail-feather, near its tip, is almost always appreciable. In _celata_ this edge is very narrowly and uniformly margined with whitish.

A young bird of the year, from Port Simpson (27,228), has two distinct greenish-white bands on the wings, and the forehead and cheeks greenish-yellow. A corresponding age of _H. celata_ has the wing-bands more reddish-brown, the wings shorter, and no white patch on the outer tail-feather.

HABITS. Like the Nashville Warbler the present species has received a name inappropriate to one with so northern a distribution. It was first obtained on the banks of the Cumberland River by Wilson, and has since been known as the Tennessee Warbler. But two specimens were ever obtained by him, and he regarded it as a very rare species. He found them hunting nimbly among the young leaves, and thought they possessed many of the habits of the Titmice. Their notes he described as few and weak, and in their stomachs he found, upon dissection, small green caterpillars and a few winged insects.

Mr. Audubon also regarded it as a rare species, and only three specimens ever fell within his observations. These were obtained in Louisiana and at Key West. He describes them as appearing to be nimble, active birds, expert catchers of flies, and fond of hanging to the extremities of branches, uttering a single mellow _tweet_ as they fly from branch to branch in search of food, or while on the wing.

Mr. Nuttall appears not to have met with it. Dr. Richardson procured only a single specimen at Cumberland House, in the latter part of May. This was in a dense thicket of small trees, and was flying about among the lower branches. He was unable to discover its nest, or to learn anything in regard to its habits.

A little more light has since then been given both as to its geographical distribution and its mode of nesting. Specimens of this species have been obtained in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Oaxaca, Mexico, and Panama. A specimen of this species was also taken in Colombia, S. A., by Mr. C. W. Wyatt. Dr. Gundlach mentions it as occasionally found in Cuba. Mr. Drexler secured specimens of it at Moose Factory and at Fort George in the arctic regions. Specimens were taken by Mr. Bernard R. Ross at Fort Simpson. Mr. Robert Kennicott met with it on the northern shores of Lake Winnipeg, June 6. They were then abundant, and had already mated. He again met with them at Fort Resolution, and Mr. Clarke found them at Fort Rae, Mr. W. F. Hall in Maine, Mr. Bell on the Upper Missouri, and Professor Baird in Pennsylvania. Mr. Ridgway has obtained it both in spring and in fall in Southern Illinois, where it is abundant in some seasons. It does not appear to occur on the Pacific coast.

Mr. Boardman writes that the Tennessee Warbler is, in the summer time, quite a common bird in St. Stephens and vicinity. Its notes, he adds, resemble the low, subdued whistle of the common Summer Yellow-Bird.

Mr. Maynard found this Warbler very common near Lake Umbagog during the breeding-season. It was found in all the wooded localities in the regions north of the neighboring mountains. Its song, he states, resembles that of _H. ruficapilla_, the notes of the first part being more divided, while the latter part is shriller.

A nest of this Warbler (Smith. Coll., 3476), obtained on the northern shore of Lake Superior by Mr. George Barnston, is but little more than a nearly flat bed of dry, matted stems of grass, and is less than an inch in thickness, with a diameter of about three inches. It is not circular in shape, and its width is not uniform. Its position must have been on some flat surface, probably the ground. The eggs resemble those of all the family in having a white ground, over which are profusely distributed numerous small dots and points of a reddish-brown, and a few of a purplish-slate. They are of an oblong-oval shape, and measure .68 by .50 of an inch.

A nest from near Springfield, Mass., obtained by Professor Horsford, the parent bird having been secured, was built in a low clump of bushes, just above the ground. It is well made, woven of fine hempen fibres of vegetables, slender stems of grass, delicate mosses, and other like materials, and very thoroughly lined with hair. It measures two and three fourths inches in diameter and two in height. The cavity is two inches wide and one and three fourths deep. The eggs measure .60 by .50 of an inch, are oblong-oval in shape, their ground-color a pearly white, marked in a corona, about the larger end, with brown and purplish-brown spots.

GENUS PARULA, BONAP.

_Chloris_, BOIE, Isis, 1826, 972 (not of Moehring, 1752). (Type,
_Parus americanus_.)
_Sylvicola_, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Journ. III, July, 1827, 169. (Not of
Humphrey, Mus. Calonnianum, 1797, 60; genus of land mollusks.)
(Same type.)
_Parula_, BONAP. Geog. & Comp. List, 1838. (Same type.)
_Compsothlypis_, CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 20. (Same type.)

GEN. CHAR. In the species of this genus the bill is conical and acute; the culmen very gently curved from the base; the commissure slightly concave. The notch when visible is further from the tip than in _Dendroica_, but usually is either obsolete or entirely wanting. Bristles weak. The tarsi are longer than the middle toe. The tail is nearly even, and considerably shorter than the wing. Color, blue above, with a triangular patch of green on the back; anterior lower parts yellow.

Two species—one with three varieties—of this genus, as lately restricted, are known in America, only one, however, has as yet been detected within the limits of the United States. They may be distinguished as follows:—

P. americana. Eyelids white. Yellow beneath restricted to anterior half.

Two white bands on wing; a dusky collar across the jugulum.
_Hab._ Eastern Province of United States, south to Guatemala;
Bahamas; Cuba; Jamaica; St. Croix; St. Thomas.

P. pitiayumi. Eyelids dusky. Yellow beneath, extending back along sides to the crissum.

_Two white bands on wing._

Above plumbeous-blue; lores and eyelids deep black. Abdomen
wholly yellow. Wing, 2.20; tail, 1.75. _Hab._ South America
from Bogota to Paraguay … var. _pitiayumi_.[34]

Above ashy-blue; lores and eyelids scarcely darker. Abdomen
wholly white. Wing, 2.35; tail, 2.05. _Hab._ Tres Marias
Islands, Western Mexico … var. _insularis_.[35]

_Only a trace of white on wings, or none at all._

Above indigo-blue. Wing, 2.10; tail, 1.70. _Hab._ Costa Rica
and Guatemala … var. _inornata_.[36]

[Line drawing: _Parula americana_, Bonap.]

_Compsothlypis gutturalis_, CABANIS (_Parula gut._, BAIRD, Rev. Am. B.), and _Conirostrum superciliosum_, HARTLAUB (_Parula superciliosa_, BAIRD, Rev.), have been referred by later systematists to this genus; but they are much more closely related to _Conirostrum_,—a genus usually assigned to the _Cærebidæ_. The _“P.” gutturalis_ is confined to Costa Rica; but _“P.” superciliosa_ is a species of the table-lands of Mexico, and likely to be detected in Arizona or New Mexico. The characters of this species are as follows:—

_Conirostrum superciliosum_, HARTL. R. Z. 1844, 215. Whole dorsal region, including rump, olive-green; rest of upper parts ashy. Anterior half beneath yellow, with a crescentic bar of chestnut-brown across the jugulum; posterior lower parts white, ashy laterally. A conspicuous superciliary stripe of white. Wing, 2.60; tail, 2.10.

Parula americana, BONAP.

BLUE YELLOW-BACKED WARBLER.

_Parus americanus_, LINN. Syst. Nat. 10th ed. I, 1758, 190. _Motacilla
am._ GMELIN. _Sylvia am._ LATH., AUD. _Sylvicola am._ RICH.,
AUD.—JONES, Nat. in Bermuda, 1839, 59. _Parula am._ BON. List
Birds N. Am. 1838.—GOSSE, Birds Jam. 1847, 154 (Jamaica).—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. 1858, 238; Rev. 169.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1857, 202
(Xalapa).—IB. Ibis, 1859, 10 (Guatemala).—IB. Catal. 1861, 26,
163.—NEWTON, Ibis, 1859, 143 (Santa Cruz; winter).—CASSIN, Pr. A.
N. S. 1860, 376 (St. Thomas).—GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326
(Cuba; very common). _Compsothlypis am._ CAB. Mus. Hein. 1850,
20.—IB. Jour. III, 1855, 476 (Cuba). _Ficedula ludoviciana_,
BRISSON. _Motacilla lud._ GM. _Motacilla eques_, BODD. _Sylvia
torquata_, VIEILL. _Thryothorus torq._ STEPHENS. _Sylvia pusilla_,
WILS. _Sylvicola pus._ SWAINS.
Figures: AUD. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xv.—IB. Birds Am. II, pl. xci.—VIEILL.
Ois. Am. II, pl. xcix.—WILS. Am. Orn. IV, pl. xxviii.—BUFFON, pl.
enl. dccxxxi, fig. 1; dccix, fig. 1.

SP. CHAR. Above blue, the middle of the back with a patch of yellowish-green. Beneath yellow anteriorly, white behind. A reddish-brown tinge across the breast. Lores and space round the eye dusky; a small white spot on either eyelid; sides of head and neck like the crown. Two conspicuous white bands on the wings. Outer two tail-feathers with a conspicuous spot of white. _Female_ similar, with less brown on the breast. Length, 4.75; wing, 2.34; tail, 1.90. Nest of long moss.

HAB. Eastern Province of United States, north to the Lakes (“Greenland”), west to the Missouri Valley; in winter, south to Guatemala (not seen on the west coast of Mexico). West Indies; Bahamas; Cuba; Jamaica; St. Croix; St. Thomas; Jalapa, Guatemala (SCLATER); Orizaba, winter (SUMICHRAST); Yucatan (LAWRENCE); Porto Rico and Inagua (BRYANT).

Autumnal males are browner on the chin, yellower on the throat and jugulum. Head tinged with greenish; secondaries edged with greenish-yellow. Autumnal females are light greenish-olive above, dirty-white beneath.

In very brightly colored spring males, there is frequently (as in 58,335, Philadelphia) a well-defined, broad blackish band across the jugulum, anterior to an equally distinct and rather broader one across the breast, of a brown tint, spotted with black, while the sides are much spotted with chestnut-brown; the blue above is very pure, and the green patch on the back very sharply defined.

HABITS. The Blue Yellow-Back is one of our most interesting and attractive Warblers. Nowhere very abundant, it has a well-marked and restricted area within which it is sparingly distributed. It is found from the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic, and from Canada southward. In its winter migrations it visits the West Indies, the Bahamas, and Central and South America. Halifax on the east, and Platte River on the west, appear to be the northern limit of its distribution. Dr. Woodhouse met with it in the Indian Territory during the breeding-season. Mr. Alfred Newton found this species, apparently only a winter visitant, in the island of St. Croix. Most of the birds left about the middle of March, though a few remained until early in May.

A single specimen of this species was taken at South Greenland in 1857.

This Warbler has been found breeding as far to the south as Tuckertown, N. J., by Mr. W. S. Wood; and at Cape May, in the same State, by Mr. John Krider. At Washington, Dr. Coues found it only a spring and autumn visitant, exceedingly abundant from April 25 to May 15. Possibly a few remained to breed, as he met with them in the first week of August. In the fall they were again abundant from August 25 to the second week in October. He found them inhabiting exclusively high open woods, and usually seen in the tops of the trees, or at the extremities of the branches, in the tufts of leaves and blossoms.

Even where most common it is not an abundant species, and is to be found only in certain localities, somewhat open and swampy thickets, usually not of great extent, and prefers those well covered with the long gray lichens known as Spanish moss. In such localities only, so far as I know, do they breed.

This Warbler has also been ascertained to breed in Southern Illinois, where Mr. Ridgway found it in July, engaged in feeding fully fledged young birds. It is there most common in spring and fall.

A true Warbler in most of its attributes, this bird has many of the habits of Titmice. Like these it frequents the tops of the taller trees, feeding on the small winged insects and caterpillars that abound among the young leaves and blossoms. It has no song, properly so called, its notes are feeble and few, and can be heard only a short distance.

The song of this species is said by Mr. Trippe, of Orange, N. Y., to be a somewhat sharp and lisping, yet quite varied and pleasing, series of notes.

Mr. Audubon speaks of this species as breeding in Louisiana, but his description of the nest differs so entirely from such as are met with in Massachusetts as to suggest doubts as to the correctness of the identification. He describes them as flitting over damp places, the edges of ponds and streams, and pursuing their prey with great activity. They resort to the woods as soon as the foliage appears on the forest trees, and glean among the leaves for the smaller winged insects.

The nests of this Warbler, so far as has fallen under my observation, have always been made of long gray lichens still attached to the trees on which they grow. With great skill do these tiny architects gather up, fasten together, and interweave, one with the other, the hanging ends and longer branches. By an elaborate intertwining of these long fibres they form the principal part, sometimes the whole, of their nests. These structures are at once simple, beautiful, ingenious, and skilfully wrought. When first made, they are somewhat rude and unfinished, but as their family are gathered, the eggs deposited, incubated, and hatched, a change has been going on. Little by little has the male bird busied himself, when not procuring food for his mate, in improving, strengthening, and enlarging the nest. These same acts of improvement upon the original nests are noticed with Humming-Birds, Vireos, and a few other birds.

The nests are sometimes constructed on the sides of trunks of trees, when covered with the long gray lichens, but are more frequently found hanging from branches usually not more than six or eight feet from the ground. Thus surrounded by long hanging mosses in clumps not distinguishable from the nests themselves, they would not be readily recognized were it not that those familiar with the habits of the bird may be readily guided to the spot by the artless movements of the unsuspecting parents.

These birds are confiding, easily approached, and rarely exhibit any signs of alarm. Even when their nest is disturbed they make but little complaint, and do not manifest any very great signs of emotion. When built against a trunk these nests consist only of an interweaving of the moss above and below a very small opening, within which a small cup-shaped flooring has been made of the same material, and usually cannot be removed without destroying all semblance of a nest. When pensile they are imperfectly circular in shape, with an entrance on one side, and rarely with any lining. Occasionally they are models of symmetry and beauty.

The eggs, four or five in number, have a clear white ground, and are sparingly spotted with markings of reddish-brown, slate, purple, and lilac. In some the first predominate, in other the last three shades are more abundant, and usually form a confluent ring around the larger end. They measure from .62 to .65 of an inch in length, and from .49 to .50 in breadth.

SECTION SYLVICOLEÆ.

This section has been already characterized as having a distinctly notched bill, well provided with bristles. Of the two genera one, _Perissoglossa_, has the bill slender, acute, something like _Helminthophaga_, and with the tongue lengthened and much lacerated at end; the other, _Dendroica_, with less acute bill and tongue shorter, merely notched at tip, and a little fringed only.

GENUS PERISSOGLOSSA, BAIRD.

_Perissoglossa_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 181. (Type, _Motacilla
tigrina_, GM.)

[Line drawing: _Perissoglossa tigrina_, Baird.]

GEN. CHAR. Form of _Dendroica_, but bill slender, acute, with very obsolete notch; the commissure gently arched or curved from the base; the gonys also straight, or even slightly concave. Tongue lengthened, narrow, deeply bifid (for one third), and deeply lacerated or fringed externally at the end; the edge along the median portion folded over on the upper surface, but not adherent.

The curvature of the bill in _Perissoglossa tigrina_ is quite peculiar among the _Sylvicolidæ_ with notched bills. Some Helminthophagas (without notch) approximate this character, though in none, excepting _H. bachmani_, is it in equal amount,—all the others having the gonys very slightly convex, instead of straight, or even slightly concave.

It is most probable that the _Helinaia carbonata_ of Audubon belongs here, as it appears very closely allied to the type of this genus. The two species may be distinguished as follows:—

COMMON CHARACTERS. _Male._ Top of head black. Above olive, becoming yellowish on rump. Head, neck, and lower parts bright yellow, becoming whitish posteriorly. Dorsal feathers with black centres; breast and sides streaked with black. A black streak through the eye.

P. tigrina. Large white patches on inner webs of
tail-feathers.

Sides of head and middle of throat tinged with chestnut. One
large white patch on wing, covering both rows of coverts.
Outer web of lateral tail-feather blackish.

P. carbonata. No white patches on tail-feathers.

No chestnut about head. Two bands on the wing, the anterior
one white, the posterior yellow. Outer web of lateral
tail-feather whitish.

Perissoglossa tigrina, BAIRD.

CAPE MAY WARBLER.

_Motacilla tigrina_, GMELIN, Syn. Nat. I, 1788, 985. _Sylvia tig._
LATH. _Dendroica tig._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 286.—SCLATER,
Catal. 1861, 33, no. 198; P. Z. S. 1861, 71 (Jamaica,
April).—MARCH, Pr. An. Sc. 1863, 293 (Jamaica; breeds).—A. & E.
NEWTON, Ibis, 1859, 144 (St. Croix. Notes on anatomy of
tongue).—GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; not rare).—SAMUELS,
240. _Perissoglossa tigrina_, BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 181.
_Sylvia maritima_, WILSON, Am. Orn. VI, 1812, 99, pl. liv, fig.
3.—BON.; NUTT.; AUD. Orn. Biog. V, pl. ccccxiv.—D’ORB. La Sagra’s
Cub. 1840, 70, pl. x. _Sylvicola mar._ JARD., BON., AUD. Birds Am.
II, pl. lxxxv. _Certhiola mar._ GOSSE, Birds Jam. 1847, 81.—IB.
Illust. _Rhimamphus mar._ CAB. Jour. III, 1855, 474 (Cuba.)

SP. CHAR. Bill very acute, conical, and decidedly curved. Bill and feet black. Upper part of head dull black, some of the feathers faintly margined with light yellowish-brown. Collar scarcely meeting behind; rump and under parts generally rich yellow. Throat, forepart of breast, and sides, streaked with black. Abdomen and lower tail-coverts pale yellow, brighter about the vent. Ear-coverts light reddish-chestnut. Back part of a yellow line from nostrils over the eye of this same color; chin and throat tinged also with it. A black line from commissure through the eye, and running into the chestnut of the ear-coverts. Back, shoulder, edges of the wing and tail, yellowish-olive; the former spotted with dusky. One row of small coverts, and outer bases of the secondary coverts, form a large patch of white, tinged with pale yellow. Tertials rather broadly edged with brownish-white. Quills and tail dark brown, the three outer feathers of the latter largely marked with white on the inner web; edge of the outer web of the outer feathers white, more perceptible towards the base. Length, 5.25; wing, 2.84; tail, 2.15.

_Female._ Above olivaceous-ash, most yellowish on rump; no black nor chestnut on head. Wing-coverts inconspicuously edged with whitish. Tail-spots very inconspicuous. Beneath dull white tinged with yellowish on the breast, and streaked as in the male, but with dusky grayish instead of black.

HAB. Eastern Province of United States, north to Lake Winnipeg and Moose Factory; all the West Indies to St. Croix. Breeds in Jamaica. Not recorded from Mexico or Central America.

The chestnut about the head in adult males varies in amount with the individual; sometimes (as in 20,633, May, Moose Factory, Hudson’s Bay Territory) there is an oblong spot of chestnut in the middle of the crown, but generally this is absent. Very frequently the chestnut tinges the throat. All variations in these respects appear, however, to be individual, and not dependent at all on locality. West Indian specimens appear to be absolutely identical with those from North America.

Autumnal specimens are browner, the chestnut markings much obscured.

1. Perissoglossa tigrina, _Gm._ ♂ H. B. Ter., 20633.
2. “ “ “ ♀ Pa., 678.
3. “ carbonata, _Aud._ (Copied from Audubon).
4. Dendroica virens, _Gm._ ♂ Pa., 941.
5. “ occidentalis, _Towns._ ♂ Cal., 5518.
6. “ chrysopareia, _Scl. & Salv._ ♂.
7. “ townsendi, _Nutt._ ♂ Guat., 8017.
8. “ nigrescens, _Towns._ ♂ Ariz., 1908.
9. “ coronata, _Linn._ ♂ Pa., 8384.
10. “ cærulescens, _Linn._ ♂ Pa., 3419.
11. “ “ “ ♀ Pa., 2308.
12. “ coronata, _Linn._ ♀.]

HABITS. This somewhat rare species, so far as its history and distribution are known with certainty, is migratory in the principal portions of the United States, in the spring and fall passing to the north of the 42d parallel to breed. The first specimen was obtained near the extreme southern point of New Jersey by George Ord, in 1811, and described and figured by Wilson. From this accidental circumstance it derives its inappropriate name of Cape May Warbler. Wilson never met with a second specimen, and Mr. Nuttall was wholly unacquainted with it. Mr. Audubon also never met with a specimen in all his wanderings, and was able to add nothing to its history. Those figured by him were procured by Mr. Edward Harris, near Philadelphia, through which region these birds appear to pass rapidly in their northern migrations.

Mr. J. A. Allen obtained a specimen near Springfield, Mass., May 15, 1863, and specimens have also been procured at East Windsor Hill, Conn., by Dr. Wood. It was not met with in Western Maine by Mr. Verrill, but in Eastern Maine and in New Brunswick Mr. Boardman has found it a not uncommon summer visitant, though of irregular frequency. He has no doubt that they remain there to breed. They reach Calais as early as the second week in May, or as early as their appearance usually in the neighborhood of Philadelphia has been noticed. Mr. Kumlien has also obtained specimens from year to year, about the middle of May, in Southern Wisconsin, where they do not remain to breed, and Mr. Ridgway has taken them in the beginning of May in Southern Illinois.

It is also by no means uncommon in Cuba; was met by the Newtons as a migrant in St. Croix, and is not only one of the birds of Jamaica, but is resident and breeds in the highlands of that island. It is not known to occur in Central America, Mexico, or west of the Mississippi River. Specimens were procured at Moose Factory about May 28.

Its nests and eggs have not been, with certainty, obtained in the United States, though an egg obtained in Coventry, Vt., in 1836, and attributed at the time to this bird, closely resembles its identified eggs from Jamaica. Specimens of the bird, as well as its nests and eggs, have also been received from St. Domingo by Mr. Turnbull of Philadelphia. In the summer of 1871 a nest of this species was found by Mr. H. B. Bailey on the Richardson Lakes, in the extreme northwestern part of Maine. The nest was in a low spruce-tree, less than five feet from the ground, and when found contained only a single egg. Unfortunately it was left until more eggs were deposited, and in the mean while the tree was cut, and the nest and eggs were destroyed.

Mr. W. T. March of Jamaica, in his notes on the birds of that island, states that this species may always be found, in its various changes of plumage, about the mangrove swamps and river-banks. During the summer months it was common about Healthshire and Great Salt Pond, and at other times very generally distributed over the island. He also met with several specimens of its nests and eggs, but their position was not stated. The nests had apparently been taken from a bush or tree, were three and one fourth inches in diameter by two and one half in height, with cavities unusually large and deep for the size of the nests. They were wrought almost entirely of long strips of thin flexible bark, strongly and firmly interwoven. The outer portions consisted of coarser and longer strips, the inner being much finer and more delicate. With the outer portions were also interwoven bits of mosses, lichens, and the outer bark of deciduous trees. The entire fabric was a remarkable one.

The eggs measure .70 by .55 of an inch, have a pinkish-white ground, blotched with purple and brown of various shades and tints. They are disposed chiefly about the larger end, usually in a ring. The eggs are oval in shape and slightly pointed at one end.

Perissoglossa carbonata, BAIRD.

CARBONATED WARBLER.

_Sylvia carbonata_, AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 308, pl. lx
(Kentucky).—NUTT. _Helinaia carbonata_, AUD. Syn.—IB. Birds Am.
II, 1841, 95, pl. cix. _Dendroica carbonata_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 287; Rev. Am. Birds, 207.

SP. CHAR. Bill brownish-black above, light blue beneath. Iris hazel. Feet light flesh-color. Upper part of the head black. Forepart of the back, lesser wing-coverts, and sides dusky, spotted with black. Lower back dull yellowish-green, as is the tail, of which the outer web of the outer feather is whitish. Tip of the second row of coverts white, of the first row yellow; quills dusky, their outer webs tinged with yellow. A line from the lore over the eye; sides of the neck and the throat bright yellow. A dusky line behind the eye. The rest of the under parts dull yellow, excepting the sides. Length, 4.75 inches; bill above, 4.42; tarsus, .75. (AUDUBON).

HAB. Kentucky.

This species continues to be known only by the description and figure of Audubon.

Judging from the description, this species is closely related to _P. tigrina_, but seems to be distinct in the pure black of the top of the head, the absence of orange-brown on the cheeks, the white of the wing being on the middle coverts instead of the greater, and the tail-feathers being yellowish-green; the outer web of outer feather white, instead of a large spot on the inner web, etc. The back appears more distinctly streaked.

HABITS. Two specimens of this Warbler, obtained near Henderson, Ky., May, 1811, by Mr. Audubon, are all its claim to be recognized as a good species. None have since been seen. These birds are described as having been busily engaged in collecting insects among the branches of a dogwood tree. Their motions were like those of other Warblers. This is all we as yet know as to the history of this species, and its claims to be regarded as a good and distinct species are involved in doubt.

GENUS DENDROICA, GRAY.

_Sylvicola_, GRAY, Genera Birds, 2d ed. 1841, 32. (Not of Humphreys
nor Swainson.)
_Dendroica_, GRAY, Genera Birds, Appendix, 1842, 8.
_Rhimamphus_, HARTLAUB, Rev. Zool. 1845, 342. (Not of Rafinesque,
Am. Monthly Mag. 1818, and Jour. de Phys. 1819.)

[Line drawing: _Dendroica coronata._
38714]

GEN. CHAR. Bill conical, attenuated, depressed at the base, where it is, however, scarcely broader than high, compressed from the middle. Culmen straight for the basal half, then rather rapidly curving, the lower edge of upper mandible also concave. Gonys slightly convex and ascending. A distinct notch near the end of the bill. Bristles, though short, generally quite distinct at the base of the bill. Tarsi long; decidedly longer than middle toe, which is longer than the hinder one; the claws rather small and much curved; the hind claw nearly as long as its digit. The wings long and pointed; the second quill usually a very little longer than the first. The tail slightly rounded and emarginate.

_Colors._ Tail always with a white or yellow spot; its ground-color never clear olive-green. In _D. æstiva_ edged internally with yellow.

Eggs usually with a white or a bluish-white ground, marked with purplish-brown and obscure lilac; in some, mingled with varying shades of sienna-brown. Nest, so far as known, in bushes and trees, except _D. palmarum_, which is on the ground.

The genus _Dendroica_ is one of the most extensive as to species of any in North America, and scarcely admits of any subdivision. There is a little variation in the bill, wings, etc., the chief peculiarities being in _D. castanea_ and _pennsylvanica_, in which the bill is broader, and more depressed, with longer bristles; in _D. striata_, where the bill is narrow with scarcely any bristles; and in _D. palmarum_ and _kirtlandi_, where the wings are very short, scarcely longer than the tail. _D. palmarum_ has the tarsus unusually long. The colors in all are strongly marked, and the species are among the most beautiful of all belonging to our fauna, and are the most conspicuous for their numbers and in their migrations.