200 NORTH AMEIUCAN BIRDS. 



lower tail-coverts, which are lemon-yeUow ; there is scarcely a tinge of yellow 

 ou the jugulum, and not a truce of chestnut on the crown. 



Habits. But little is as yet known in regard to the habits and distiUiutiuu 

 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 (^f Vol. II. of the 

 Birds of North America. It was named in lionor of J\Irs. Virginia Ander- 

 son, the wife of its discoverer. An immature individual of this species M-as 

 obtained August 15, 1864, by Dr. Cones, at Fort Whipple, near I'rescott, in 

 tlic Territory of Arizona. As it bears a close resemblance to the Hclmiii- 

 tliophaija riificcqnlla, it is not improbable that its habits bear a very close 

 resemljlance to those of that species. 



Ill tlie summer of 1869, ]\Ir. Kobert Eidgway 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 iu tlie deposits of 

 dead or decaying lea\es, on ground covered by dense oak-brush. Its rim 

 was just even with tlie surface. It was built on the side of a narrow ravine 

 at the bottom of M'liich was a small stream. The nest itself is two inches 

 iu depth by three and a half in diameter. It consists of a loose but intri- 

 cate interweaving of fine strips of the inner bark of the mountain mahog- 

 any, 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 I'oiir in nuiiibcr, and nieasiire .64 by .47 of an incli. They 

 are of a rouudcd-ovoid sha])e, have a white ground witli a slightly roseate 

 tinge, and are yirofuscly spotted with numerous small blotches and dots of 

 purplish-browu and lilac, forming a crown around tlie larger end. 



This bird \\'as lirst observed by ]\Ir. Ilidgway among the cedars and pines 

 of the East Humboldt JMountains, where in July it was quite common. It 

 was very abundant in the Walisatch Mountains near Salt Lake City, through- 

 out the summer chiefly inhaliiting the thickets of scrub-oak on the slopes of 

 the canons in whicli they nested, and where they were daily seen, biit where, 

 owing to the thickness of the bushes, they were with difficulty obtained. He 

 describes its song as almost exactly like that of Dcndroica wstiva. The 

 usual note is a soft pit, quite different from the shariJ chip of H. cclata. 



Helminthophaga luciae, Cooper. 



LUCY'S WARBLER. 



Ilclmmthnplwrja liwicu, Cooper, Tr. Cal. Acad. July, 1861, 120 (Fort Mohave). — B.\iKn, 

 Kpv. Am. b. 1864, 178. — Elliot, llliist. BirJs N. Am. I, v. — Cooi-eb, Orii. Cal. I, 

 1870, 84. 



Sp. CiiAB. General form and size that of II. ruficapilla. Above light-cinereous ; beneath 

 white, having a soiled, vei-y pale buff, almost white tinge on the throat, breast, and flanks. 



