HOODED WARBLER 269 



Summer Range. — Northern Mexico, west to the Pacific; east to 

 the Plains; north to North Dakota (Musselshell River), southern Mon- 

 tana (Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers), British Columbia (Sumas, 

 Okanagan). 



IV inter Range. — Mexico to Costa Rica. 



The Bird and its Haunts. — This slightly differentiated form of 

 the Chat is a locally common bird throughout the west. So far as 

 my experience goes its habits differ in no respect from those of the 

 eastern birds. At Sargents, California, where the growth bordering 

 the river is strongly eastern in its general character, the bird was not 

 uncommon, while in the scrubby pastures in the Klamath River Valley 

 at Beswick, and the bushy hillsides of the town of Klamath Falls, in 

 Oregon, it was as numerous as I have ever found its eastern relative. 



Nesting Site. — The nest is placed in small bushes or saplings or 

 among briers usually at a height of from two to three feet. 



Nest. — Nests from Fort Davis, Texas, are described as composed 

 of "dry leaves, strips of reeds and dry grasses without a dift'erent lin- 

 ing." (C. W. C.) Sonoma County, California, nests are described as 

 made of dead leaves and grasses and lined with finer grasses. 

 (C. W. C.) 



Eggs. — Similar to those of the Yellow-breasted Chat, showing 

 the same variation, but averaging a trifle smaller. 



Nesting Dates. — Comal Co., Texas, April 2; Fort Davis, Texas, 

 July 16 (C. W. C.) ; Tucson, Ariz., June 2 {Stephens) ; San Jose, 

 Calif., May 18 (C. W. C.) 



Genus WILSONIA Bonaparte 



In correlation with its flycatching habits Wilsonia has a flat bill 

 and conspicuously developed rictal bristles. Measured at the nostrils 

 the bill is as wide or wider than it is high. The wing is less than .50 

 inches longer than the tail, the second, third, and fourth primaries 

 are longest, the outer tail-feathers are slightly the shortest; the feet 

 are pale, the tarsus but little longer than the middle-toe and claw. 



Omitting Sylvania mcridionalis (Pelz.), of Colombia and Ecua- 

 dor, which probably does not belong to this genus, Wilsonia contains 

 three species, two of which are eastern, while the third, W. pusilla, 

 ranges across the continent; an eastern, a Rocky Mountain, and a 

 Pacific Coast form being recognized. 



Hooded Warbler 



WILSONIA MITRATA (Gmel.) Plate XXI 

 Distinguishing Characters. — The male of this beautiful species cannot be 

 mistaken for any other Warbler; the female may be known by its entirely 



