170 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



maxillary or supra-orbital stripes. (From a specimen in my collection shotat Upton.Me., 

 August 11,1876. This bird was very young; in fact barely able to fly. A slight doubt exists 

 in my mind as to its identity, for I did not actually see the parent birds feed it. though 

 both were in the immediate vicinity and exhibited much solicitude. This specimen is 

 separable from the corresponding stage of G. trichas by the ashy cast of the pileum and 

 the absence of brownish on the sides.) 



"Autumnal plumage. Young male. Entire upper parts olive-green, the feathers of 

 the pileum and nape being just tipped with this color and showing plainly the ashy 

 underneath when disarranged. Sides of head, with broad bands extending down each 

 side of the throat and nearly meeting across the jugulum, ash, washed with greenish 

 olive. Sides, with a broad connected band across anal region and breast, dull olive- 

 green. Rest of under parts, with central areas of throat and jugulum, very clear rich 

 yellow, intensifying into a spot of orange on the breast. In two specimens (both males) 

 a yellow tipping of the feathers on the jugulum nearly conceals much black underneath, 

 which becomes conspicuous when the plumage is slightly disarranged. 



"Autumnal plumage. Toung female. Similar to the male, but with a more olive cast 

 to the green of the dorsal aspect, less ashy on head, and the spot on the breast of richer, 

 deeper eolor.and broader diffusion. The young of both sexes in autumnal plumage 

 have the upper and lower eye-lids conspicuous fulvous yellow. In one specimen (male, 

 taken August 21) the eye-lids are dirty white. (From seven specimens two females, five 

 males in my collection, shot at Upton.Me., August, 1874.) Irrespective of generic chara.c- 

 ters, the young of G. Philadelphia are at once distinguishable from those of Oporornis 

 agilis in corresponding stages by the total absence of ashy on the central regions of the 

 throat, jugulum, and breast. So marked is the difference that obtains in this respect, that 

 I am easily able to separate the two species, when lying side by side, at a distance of 

 fifteen or twenty feet." 



During the spring migration, I have found this bird to be very 

 common, on one or two occasions ; and I have also obtained speci- 

 mens in the fall. Early in May, 1881, they were abundant near 

 Wheatland, Indiana, most of them being observed about brush-piles 

 in a clearing and along fences in the immediate vicinity. In the early 

 part of June, 1871, I saw a pair in a thicket along the border of 

 Fox Prairie in Kichland county, and presumed at the time that 

 they were breeding there, but the individuals in question may have 

 been merely late migrants. 



GENUS ICTERIA VIEILLOT. 



Icteria VIEILLOT, is. Am. Sept. 1,1807, iii, 85. Type, Muscicapa viridis GMEL. =Turdi<a 

 virens LTNN. 



"GEN. CHAB. Bill broad at base, but contracting rapidly and becoming attenuated 

 when vicAved from above; high at the base (higher than broad opposite the nostrils) ; the 

 culmen and commissure much curved from base, the gonys straight. Upper jaw deeper 

 than the loAver ; bill Avithout notch or rictal bristles. Nostrils circular, edged above witli 

 membrane, the feathers close to their borders. Wings shorter than tail, considerably 

 rounded; first quill rather shorter than the sixth. Tail moderately graduated; the 

 feathers rounded but narrow. Middle toe without claw, about two-thirds the length of 

 tarsus, which has th<> s'iitf.ll;i> fused externally in part into one plate. 



