yj. SINGIXG JilKDS— OSCLNES. 



Helminthophaga Luciae, Cooper. 



LUCY'S WAEBLEE. 

 Hehiiintliojihaya Liiciw, Cooi-EK, Proc. Cal. Acad. N;i[. Sc. IL 186i, 120. 



Sp. Char. Above, light ash-gray, witli iiartiallv concealed spot on vertex, and the 

 upper tail coverts chestnut brown, (jnills and tail tinged with brown, edges of ])ri- 

 niaries and coverts paler ; beneath white, tinged with yellowish, this color extending 

 to lores and around eyes, forming a i'aint line above and behind them. Quills j)lum- 

 beous beneath, also the tail tc-athers, the ontcr ol' which are edged with white Intel'- 



\ 



nally, ami with a white patch on the inner web near the end. Female differs only in 

 smaller size and duller colors. Iris brown ; bill black above, bluish below : leet ]jale 

 lead-color. 



Length, 4.25 ; extent of wings, 6.50 ; wing, 2.25 ; tail, 1.50; tarsus, 0.G5 ; middle toe 

 and claw, 0.95 ; bill along ridge, 0.35 ; gape, 0.45 ; its height at base, 0.15 : width, a little 

 more. First quill shorter than the three next, and tail shorter than in other species, 

 proportionally. (Cooper.) 



Ilab. Colorado Valley, California, to lat. 35°.* 



This beaixtiful little warbler an-ived from tlie sotitli in the vicittity of 

 Fort Mojave on March 25th, when my attention was first struck by its 

 peculiar notes, resembling those of some Dciid/nras, but fainter. After 

 considerable watching and scrambling through the dense mcst^uite thickets, 

 I succeeded in shooting a specimen, and at once saw that it was a new 

 species. Afterwards they became quite nttmerous, frei|uenting the to^js of 

 the niesquite trees in pursuit of insects, and constantly uttering their short 

 but pleasing song. After the males had been about for ten days, I obtained 

 the first female, for which I had been on the watch daily, and think it 

 ])rol)able that they are some time later in their migrations, as is the case 

 \\ith many other small songsters. 



Up to the 25th of May, when I left the valley, I watched daily to dis- 

 coA er their nests, and tlierefore shot fewer specimens than I otherwise 



* Since obtained by Mr. Holder, about lat. 34°, March 10, 1863, and by Dr. Coues, at Fort 

 Wliipple. 



