342 BULLETIN 2 03, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



cream-buff, spot on upper and under eyelid white; lores and auricu- 

 lars dusky." 



A partial postjuvenal molt begins early in August, involving the 

 contour plumage and the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings 

 or the tail. This produces the first winter plumage, which he de- 

 scribes as "above, deep yellowish olive-gray, flecked on the crown 

 and streaked on the back with black; obscure median crown stripe 

 straw-yellow; rump and upper tail coverts black, edged with olive- 

 gray. Wing coverts clove-brown edged with olive-gray and tipped 

 with white forming two broad wing bands. Below, straw-yellow 

 brightening to orange-tinged lemon on the throat, fading to buffy 

 white on the crissum and narrowly streaked on the sides with black 

 veiled by yellow edgings. Superciliary stripe and postauricular re- 

 gion lemon-yellow orange-tinged. Auriculars, rictal streak and trans- 

 ocular stripe olive-gray mixed with black. Suborbital spot yellowish 

 white." 



He says that the first nuptial plumage is "acquired by a partial pre- 

 nuptial moult which involves most of the body plumage (except 

 posteriorly), the wing coverts and sometimes the tertiaries but not 

 the rest of the wings nor the tail. The full orange and black plumage 

 is assumed, young and old becoming practically indistinguishable, 

 the orange throat equally intense in both, the wings and tail usually 

 browner in the young bird and the primary coverts a key to age." 



The adult winter plumage is acquired by a complete postnuptial 

 molt in July, and "differs little from the first winter dress, but the 

 yellow more distinctly orange, the transocular and rictal streaks, the 

 crown and auriculars distinctly black, veiled with orange tips, the 

 streaking below heavier and broader, the wings and tail blacker and 

 the edgings grayer." The adult nuptial plumage is acquired as in 

 the young bird; this molt evidently begins in February, while the 

 birds are in their winter quarters, and is usually finished before they 

 reach their summer homes. 



Of the females, Dr. Dwight says : 



The plumages and moults correspoud to those of the male. In juvenal plum- 

 age the wing edgings are usually duller, the first winter plumage being similar 

 to that of the male but browner, the yellow tints nearly lost and the streakings 

 obscure and grayish. The first nuptial plumage, assumed by a more or less 

 limited prenuptial moult, is grayer above and paler below, except on the chin 

 and throat where new pale orange feathers contrast with the worn and faded 

 ones of the breast. The adult winter plumage is practically the same as the 

 male first winter, the auriculars and transocular stripe usually duller. The 

 adult nuptial plumage is brighter below than the first nuptial and with more 

 spotting on the crown, but the blacli head and bright orange throat of the 

 male are never acquired. 



Food. — The Blackburnian warbler is mainly insectivorous like other 

 wood warblers, feeding almost entirely on the forest pests that are so 



