70 PROCEEDINGS OF TIIE ACADEMY OP 



94. Geothlypis macgillivrayi (Aud.) Baird. 



Not abundant. Summer resident. Arrives late in April : remains till late 

 in September. Exceedingly shy and retiring, keeping in the closest thickets, 

 and very difficult to procure. 



Specimens at all seasons and ages have the white eyelids distinguishing the 

 species from Philadelphia. Autumnal examples, though possessing the grayish 

 ash throat just as in spring individuals, have the nape and crown so much 

 washed with olivaceous as to be nearly concolor with the back. Iris brown- 

 ish black. Bill black above and at tip of lower mandible, the rest of lower 

 mandible and feet delicate flesh color. Average dimensions 5.V X 7. 



95. Helminthophaga celata (Say.) Baird. 



Not detected at Fort Whipple, though doubtless to be found there in spring 

 and fall, or possibly breeding. Fort Yuma, Sept. 17. Fort Mojave Oct. 1st. 

 Headwaters Bill William's River, Oct. 3. Throughout the whole of the middle 

 and western provinces of North America. 



The H. rvficapilla though properly belonging to the eastern Province, has 

 been recorded from Fort Tejon, California, (Baird B. N. A. 185S, appendix, 

 p. 923,) and may very probably be hereafter detected in Arizona. 



96. Helminthophaga Virginia Baird. 



H. Virginia, Baird, Explanation of Plates of B. N. A 1860, ix. pi. 79, 

 fig. 1. Idem, Rev. Amer. Birds, 1865, p. 177. 

 Very rare : summer resident. A single immature individual procured 

 August 15, 1864, making the second known specimen of this excessively rare 

 species. The type is from Fort Burgwyn, N. M., Dr. W. W. Anderson. 



97. Helminthophaga hvcjx Cooper. 



H. Lucia, Cooper, Pr. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sc. July, 1861, p. 120, (Fort Mo- 

 jave.) Baird, Rev. Amer. Birds, 1865, p. 178. Coues, Newton's Ibis, 

 1866. (Fort Whipple.) 

 This interesting little species, recently described, as above, does not seem 

 to be very rare in northern and western Arizona ; though so far as I am aware, 

 five specimens taken by Dr. Cooper, at Fort Mojave, and three by myself at 

 Fort Whipple, are the only ones known to exist in any collections. At Fort 

 Whipple it is a summer resident ; arriving the second or third week in April, 

 and remaining till latter part of September. It mates from the 20th to the 

 30th of April : the young appear early in May. In habits I think it inclines 

 toward the Geotklypi rather than to the species of the genus to which it belongs ; 

 showing a decided preference for thickets and copses rather than for high open 

 woods ; and also like the Geothlt/pi, it is an exceedingly shy and retiring spe- 

 cies. The difficulty of observing and procuring it thus caused is doubtless the 

 reason why it has remained so long undetected. It is in all its motions ex- 

 ceedingly active and restless ; as much so indeed as a Polioptila, to which its 

 co'ors bear such an intimate resemblance. The only note I have heard is a 

 quickly and often repeated " tsip, " as slender and wiry as that of a gnatcatcVer. 

 But Dr. Cooper tells me he has heard a rich and pleasing song, in the spring, 

 the little performer being mounted on the top of some mezquite or other bush. 

 I have never met with the nest ; but I think it will be found, not on the 

 ground, but in the crotch of a thick busb. Dr. Cooper thinks the bird does 

 not breed in the Colorado Valley ; but retires to mountainous regions, which 

 is most probable. I have found it breeding at Whipple. Specimens measure 

 from 430 to 4-60 in length, and from 7 to 7 in extent. The iris is black : the 

 mouth flesh color, the legs and feet duty leaden blue. The young bird, just 

 fledged, wants the chestnut crown of the adult, and the throat and breast are 

 pure milk white, being without the faint ochraceous tinge that is just barely ap- 

 preciable in the adult ; the wing coverts are pale gray, and edged with ochra- 

 ceous or pale rufous. The chestnut rump is present. 



[March, 



