300 MNIOTILTID^. 



Adult male in breeding-plumage. General colour above olive- 

 greenish, with distinct centres of black to the feathers of the back, 

 less distinctly indicated on the rump ; scapulars and lesser wing- 

 coverts ashy grey washed with olive, the feathers also centred with 

 black ; median and greater coverts blackish, edged externally with 

 ashy grey and tipped with white, forming a double wiug-bur ; bas- 

 tard-wing and primarj'-coverts dusky brown, the pale margins nearly 

 obsolete ; quills dusky brown, margined with ashy grey, purer grey 

 on the primaries ; upper tail-coverts and centre' tail-feathers ashy 

 grey, centred with dusky blackish ; remainder of the tail-feathers 

 dusky brown, edged ^\dth ashy grey, the two outer feathers white, 

 brown along the shaft and towards the end of the outer web, and 

 along the basal margin of the inner web, the third feather with a 

 small subterminal white spot on the inner web ; crown of head 

 black, reaching to the base of the bill ; from the nostril a broad 

 band of golden yellow reaching to the sides of the neck ; lores, 

 anterior and posterior margin of eyelid, and ear-coverts black, 

 extending in a broad band down the sides of the neck ; sides of face 

 also black, j oining the ear-coverts ; upper and lower margin of 

 eyelid golden yellow, as also a conspicuous spot below the eye ; cheeks 

 golden yellow, forming a broad band, widening out on the sides of 

 the neck, and surrounding the black auricular patch so as to join 

 the yellow eyebrow ; throat and fore neck black ; breast golden 

 yellow ; sides of body broadly streaked with black centres to the 

 feathers ; the flanks white, similarly centred with black ; abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts white, the latter longitudinally centred with 

 dusky black ; thighs ashy brown ; axillaries and under wiug-coverts 

 white, mottled with blackish bases along the edge of the wing ; 

 quills dusky below, white along the edge of the inner web. Total 

 length 4-8 inches, culmen 0-45, wing 2-iio, tail 2, tarsus 0-75. 



A male bird in the Salvin-and-Godman collection (California, 

 May ; Belding) has the black stripes on the flanks more pronounced 

 than in the bird described, and the yellow extends further down the 

 breast ; the third tail-feather also has a distinct wedge-shaped mark 

 of white near the end of the inner web. 



Adidt 'male in ninter j^lumage. More olive-yellow than in summer, 

 and not so green on the upper surface ; the black feathers of the 

 crown, auricular stripe, and throat margiued with olive-yeUow ; the 

 ashv margins to the quills are also broader and more conspicuous. 



The yellow edges to the black feathers do not seem to last very 

 lono-, and many birds killed in the winter-haunts of this species are 

 nearly as richly coloured as breeding birds. 



Adult female imuii iter plumage. Although oHve-yeUow above like 

 the winter-j)lumaged male, it has the black centres to the feathers 

 of the upper surface less strongly indicated ; the crown is not black 

 but olive-yellow like the back, and is thickly mottled with black 

 centres to the feathers : the facial markings are the same as in the 

 male, but the black is replaced by dusky olive ; the cheeks and the 

 entire throat and fore neck are yellow, with longitudinal black 

 streaks on the latter and on the sides of the upper breast ; lower 



