298 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSEBES — OSCINES. 



A yellow spot in front of the eye and nowhere else ni{jrescens 116 



A white spot at base of primaries (almost never wanting) caruleHcens 117 



Throat detinitely yellow, belly white, back with no greenish dominica or f/racice 129. 130, or 128 



Kuniii, sides of breast, crown and throat, more or less yellow audufmiii 120 



Bill extremely acute, perceptibly curved ; rump (generally) yellow tigrlna 126 



Rump, sides of breast, and crown more or less yellow ; throat white coronata 119 



Wing-bars white, tail-spots oblique, at end of two outer feathers only pinus 134 



Tail-spots at middle of nearly all the feathers, rump and belly yellow maculosa 125 



Wing-bars brownish, tail-spots square, at end of two outer feathers only palmarum 132, 133 



Wing-bars not very conspicuous, whole under parts yellow, back with no greenish kirtlandi 131 



Tail-spots at end of nearly all the feathers, and no definite yellow anywhere ccerulea 118 



Throat, breast, and sides black or with black traces, sides of hea<l with diffuse yellow, outer tail-feather 



white-edged externally virens and its western allies 112, 113, 114, 115 ' 



Throat yellow or orange, crown with at least a trace of a central yellow or orange spot, and outer tail- 

 feather white-edged externally blackbum<B 121 



Bill ordinary ; and with none of the foregoing special marks striata or castanea 122 or 123 



111. D. aesti'va. (Lut. cestiva, summery; cestas, summer.) Summer Warbler. Summer Yel- 

 low-bird. Blue-eyed Yellow Warbler. Goldex Warbler. (J, adult: Grolden- 

 ycllow; the back \vith a greenish tinge resulting in rich yellow-olive, the rump more yellow- 

 ish ; the middle of the back sometimes obsoletely streaked with darker. Crown like the under 

 parts, in high plumage often tinged with orange-brown. Breast and sides, and sometimes 

 most of the under parts, streaked with orange-brown. Quills and tail-feathers dusky, edged on 

 both webs with yeUow, the yellow occupying most of the inner webs of the tail-feathers. Bill 

 plumbeous. Feet pale brown. Length 4.75-5.00; extent 7-50-7.75; wing 2.50; tail 2.00. 

 9 , adult : Yellow- olive of upper parts extending on the crown ; streaks below obsolete or 

 entirely wanting. General coloration paler. Young : Like the 9 > hut still duller colored. 

 Upper parts, including cro-\vn, pale olive, with an ochrey instead of clear yellow shade ; 

 below ochrey-white or dull pale yellowish. Edgings of wings and tail dull yellowish. North 

 America, everywhere in woodland, gardens, orchards, parks, and even city streets, a beautiful, 

 abundant, and familiar little bird. Nests throughout its range, in fi'uit or shade trees, shrub- 

 bery and brushwood, building a neat, compact, and durable nest of soft vegetable and animal 

 substances felted together; eggs commonly 4-5, from 0.64 to 0.69 X 0.48 to 0.53, gi-ayish- or 

 greenish- white, variously dotted and blotched with reddish -brown and lilac shades. The color 

 of this precious gem makes a pretty spot as it flits through the verdure of the forest or plays 

 amidst the rose-tinted blossoms of the fruit-orchard ; and its sprightly song is one of the most 

 familiar sounds of bird-life during the season when the year renews its youth. 



Ilia. D. vieil'loti bry'anti. (To L. P. Vieillot. To Dr. Henry Bryant.) Chestnut-headed 

 Golden Warbler. Belonging to the " golden warbler " group of the genus, and resembhng 

 D. (Bstiva in general characters. Dusky predominating over yellow on the tail-feathers ; 

 tarsus about 0.72. ^, adult: Whole head chestnut, well defined all around against the 

 yellow ; edging of wing-coverts slight ; rufous streaks of breast and sides few and narrow. 

 The continental D. vieUIoti, as described by Cassin in 1860, would appear to be well dis- 

 tinguished among its immediate insular allies by the rufous hood which envelopes the head, 

 but to be very questionably divisible into the several forms noted by Ridgway in 1874. That 

 here given is described as the Mexican race, lately ascertained to occur at La Paz, Lower 

 California. The 9 is said to be indistinguishable from that of others of the golden warbler 

 group. The extra-limital forms are all said to differ from the N. Am. D. cestiva in having 

 longer tarsi and less yellow on the tail-feathers. (Not in the Check List, 1882. See Hist. 

 N. A. Birds, i, 1874, p. 217, and Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., iv, 1882, p. 414.) 



112. D vir'ens. (Lat. virem, growing green. Fig. 160.) Black-throated Green Warbler. 

 $, in spring : Back and crown clear yellow - olive ; forehead, superciliary line, and whole sides 

 of head rich yellow (in very high plumage, middle of back with dusky marks, and dusky or dark 

 olive lines through eyes and auriculars, and even bordei-ing the crown) ; chin, throat, and 



