noble: the resident birds of Guadeloupe. 391 



Camping near the top of the Soufriere, I found the bird common 

 about the mountain streams. Near the base of the huge mass of 

 denuded lava which forms the summit of this volcano, an albino 

 female was taken. The head and neck are white, a series of white 

 blotches extend down the back and sides while the rest of the plumage 

 is the normal olive-grey. 



( 41. Dendroica ruficapilla ruficapilla (Gmelin). 



Oiseau Jaune. 



A common species in the lowlands. Fifteen specimens from 

 immediate neighborhood of Goyave, Ste. Rose, and Ste. Claude taken 

 on various days throughout July and August. 



Clark (Proc. Bost. soc. nat. hist., 1905, 32, p. 294) says "The sub- 

 species of this form, D. r. rvficapilla (Guadeloupe and Dominica), 

 D. r. rufivcrtcx (Cozumel Island), D. r. flavida (St. Andrew's) and 

 D. r. rufopileata (Curasao) appear all to fall wnthin the range of indi- 

 vidual variation, if we can judge from the great differences exhibited 

 by a series of sixteen specimens of the closely related D. capitalis 

 of Barbados. The only specimen from Cozumel Island which I 

 have been able to examine, as well as three specimens from Dominica 

 * * * are inseparable from Grenadine examples." An examination 

 of a large series of this species including the specimens taken by 

 Mr. Clark as well as those collected by myself shows that the dis- 

 tinguishing characters of the described races have no more value than 

 Clark gave them. It is clear that only one form should be recognized. 



Among the mangroves, about the plantations and ascending the 

 sparsely wooded hills this bird is common. Ober says of it (Proc. 

 U. S. N. M., 1878, 1, p. 453) "with the two sparrows the bird is most 

 commonly met with in the gardens and coffee plantations. In the 

 latter, I find it chiefly in the pois douce trees, which, originally planted 

 as wind-breaks for the coffee plants' protection, seam the hills all 

 around in long rows." About Goyave and Ste. Rose I found it most 

 common in the small plantations bordering the mangroves. It 

 sometimes occurs in numbers upon the high uplands, but I have never 

 taken it higher than Ste. Claude some two thousand feet above the 

 sea. Its habits, nesting, and song are all very much like those of the 

 Yellow Warbler (Z). aestiva acstiva) but unlike this species it seems 



