CORRESPONDENCE 265 



Washington, D. C, August 19, 1874. 

 My Dear Mr. Boakdman: 



Your letter of the lOtli inst received several days ago, was a 

 pleasant surprise to me since it has not often been my good for- 

 tune to hear from you; I hope that you won't stop with this one. 



The birds came iu tlie same mail and alVorded me a great 

 deal of pleasure — especially the young red-poll warbler (Den- 

 droica pahnarnm), which is the first of the plumage that I have 

 seen; the stage has not yet been described. Very likely you 

 have the young of other warblers which are iu the same " fix." 

 The young of D. cmrulescens^ D. virens, D. hlackburnki', D. cafitarea, 

 D. maculosa and D. discolor, are also uudescribed. In view of the 

 fact that you may be able to supply them, I make a list of the 

 other warblers of your section whose young are desiderata — 

 " non est come-at-able ;'' they are the following : Ilelminthophaga 

 cUrysoptern, II. rnJicapiUu, II. 'peregrina., Myiodinctes canadensis., 

 and the two species of Sciurus. Any of these which you can 

 furnish will be gratefully received by the authors of the History 

 of North American Birds. 



The lark which you sent is an adult (probably female) of the 

 desert race recognized as E. alpestris var. chrysokema ( Wagl.) ; it 

 is the small, dark southern form which is found in Central 

 America (as far south as Bogota, N. G.) and breeds from southern 

 Mexico to California and Utah. 



All of our wood-warblers are first clad in a plumage which 

 they retain only a few weeks after being fully feathered ! This 

 plumage diflers totally from that usually called "young" and 

 which is in reality the first assumption of the adult dress in fall : 

 the young plumage proper is never resumed and lasts only while 

 they are being fed by their parents. Apparently, all the species 

 but D. pinus are streaked, above and below, in this plumage ; at 

 least D. striata, D. pahnarnm, and D. coronata (the only ones yet 

 collected to my knowledge) are. Thus you see the importance of 

 preserving specimens which you shoot Just at this season for 

 some of those which you mention as in " bad plumage " may be 

 the very ones so much desired. 



Many thanks for your kind invitation to visit your home ; I 

 assure you that I would gladly avail myself of it were it possible 



