98 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VERMIVORA CELATA ORESTERA Oberholser 

 ROCKY MOUNTAIN ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER 

 HABITS 



Although recognized and described by Dr. Harry C. Oberholser 

 (1905) over 45 years ago, this well-marked subspecies was not ac- 

 cepted by the Committee for addition to the A. O. U. Check-List until 

 comparatively recently. 



It is described as "similar to Vermivora celata celata^ but larger and 

 much more yellowish, both above and below." Dr. Oberholser (1905) 

 adds the following remarks: "This new form has usually been in- 

 cluded with V. celata celata^ but breeding specimens recently obtained, 

 principally from New Mexico and British Columbia, indicate its much 

 closer relationship, in all respects except size, with the west coast 

 forms. From Vermivora celata lutescens it may, however, readily be 

 distinguished by its duller, less yellowish color, both above and below, 

 and by its much greater size." 



He gives its geographical range as: "Mountains of New Mexico, 

 Arizona, and southeastern California to British Columbia ; in migra- 

 tion to Minnesota and Pennsylvania, south to Texas, and Mexico to 

 Lower California, Michoacan, Guerrero, and Puebla." 



Nesting. — Stanley G. Jewett ( 1934) reports a nest within the range 

 of this race, of which he writes : 



On June 18, 1934, a nest of this species was found at 6,000 feet altitude on Hart 

 Mountain, Lake County, Oregon. The location was a rather dense mixed grove 

 of aspen, alder, willow, and yellow pine. The female was on the nest, which 

 was placed on the ground well under a small leaning willow stump, about five 

 inches in diameter, that had been cut off about a foot above the ground, leaving 

 the stump leaning at an angle of about 45 degrees. Weeds had grown over the 

 stump forming a loose canopy of vegetation which protected the nest and sitting 

 bird from being easily seen. The nest was composed of coarse dry strips of willow 

 bark, lined with porcupine hairs. It measured, inside, 50 mm. in width and 

 33 mm. in depth. 



A nest and four eggs of this species, probably orestera^ is in the 

 Thayer collection in Cambridge; it was collected at Banff, Alberta, 

 on June 9, 1902. The nest was said to be "in root of a shrub, a few 

 inches above the ground". It is compactly made of the finest larch 

 twigs, yellow birch bark, fine shreds of coarse weed stems, other fine 

 plant fibers and fine grasses, fine strips of inner bark, and a little plant 

 down ; it is lined with finer pieces of the same materials and some black 

 and white hairs. The outside diameter is about 3 inches, and the 

 height about 2 inches ; inside, it measures about 1% inches in diameter 

 and ll^ inches in depth. A set of three eggs in my collection was taken 

 May 14, 1909, near Glacier National Park, Mont. ; the nest was on the 



