LUTESCENT ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER 99 



ground, concealed by grass on a hillside. The measurements of the 

 eggs of this race, which are indistinguishable from those of other races 

 of the species, are included in those of the type race. 



VERMIVORA CELATA LUTESCENS (Ridffway) 



LUTESCENT ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER 



HABITS 



This brightly colored race of the orange-crowned warbler group 

 is widely distributed during the breeding season along the Pacific coast 

 regions from southern Alaska to southern California and migrates 

 in the fall southward to Baja California, western Mexico, and Guate- 

 mala. It differs from typical celata in being more brightly olive-green 

 above and distinctly yellow below; in strong light it seems to be a 

 yellow rather than an olive bird. 



Dr. Walter K. Fisher sent the following sketch of it in its California 

 haunts to Dr. Chapman (1907) : 



Chaparral hillsides and brushy open woods are the favorite haunts of the 

 Lutescent Warbler. Its nest is built on or near the ground, usually in a bramble 

 tangle or under a rooty bank, and the bird itself hunts near the ground, flitting 

 here and there through the miniature jungle of wild lilacs, baccharis and hazel 

 bushes. Its dull greenish color harmonizes with the dusty summer foliage of 

 our California chaparral, and with the fallen leaves and tangle of stems that 

 constitute Its normal background. It impresses one chiefly by its lack of any 

 distinctive markings, and the young of the year, particularly, approach that tint 

 which has been facetiously called "museum color." 



Ordinarily the crown-patch is invisible as the little fellow fidgets 

 among the undergrowth, but at a distance of 3 feet Mr. W. L. Finley 

 was able to distinguish it when the bird ruffled its feathers in alarm. 



In May, 1911, while I was waiting in Seattle, Wash., to take ship 

 to the Aleutian Islands with R. H. Beck and Dr. Alexander Wetmore, 

 we were shown by Samuel F. Rathbun the haunts of the lutescent 

 orange-crowned warbler around Seattle. He says that it is one of 

 the more common warblers of the region and is widely distributed. 

 It favors small deciduous growths in more or less open situations, with 

 or without accompanying evergreens. "It is also partial to the edges 

 of old clearings fringed with a deciduous growth." He says that it is 

 an early migrant, arriving early in April or sometimes in the latter 

 part of March, and departing in September. 



On Mount Rainier, according to Taylor and Shaw (1927), it was — 



fairly common in the Hudsonian Zone (4,500 feet to 6,500 feet) ; occurs also, but 

 more rarely, in the Canadian Zone between 3,500 and 4,500 feet. • * • The 

 lutescent warbler was commonly found in the mountain ash, huckleberry, azalea, 

 and willow brush, principally in the open meadow country of the subalpine parks. 

 Warm and sunny south-facing slopes were favorite places of resort, especially 



