202 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



blaiice. The only note Dr. Coues ever heard it utter was a quick and often 

 repeated tsvp, as slender and as wiry as that of a Gnatcatcher. Dr. Cooper, 

 however, has described its song as rich and pleasing, the little performer be- 

 ing mounted on the top of some mezquite or other bush. Dr. Cooper supposes 

 this species to breed, not in the Colorado Valley, l)ut in the more mountain- 

 ous regions. 



Dr. Coues hazards the conjecture that this bird builds in low bushes. 

 Should it prove so, it would in this respect differ from all the other members 

 of this well-marked group, and from the other Ground Warblers, which, in its 

 general habits, it so much resembles. 



Helminthophaga celata, var. celata, Baird. 



ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. 



Sijlvut, celata,, Say, Long's Exp. R. ]\Its. I, 1823, 169. — Bon. Am. Orii. I, pi. v, fig. 2. ^ 

 AuD. Orn. Biog. II, pi. clxxviii. Sylvicola eel. Rich. Vermivoi'a eel. Jai:d. Helinaia 

 eel. AuD. Birds Am. II, pi. cxii. Helmilhcrus eel. Bon. — Sclater, P. Z. S. 1857, 

 212 (Orizaba). Helminthoijhaga eel. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 257 ; Rev. Am. Birds, 

 I, 1865, 176 (in part). — Ball & Bannister (Alaska). — Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 

 (Oaxaca, December) ; 1859, 373 ; 1862, 19 (La Parada). H. celata, var. celata, Ridgw. 

 Rept. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th "Par. 



Sp. Char. Above grayish olive-green, rather brighter on the rump. Beneath entirely 

 greenish yellowish- white, except a little whitish about the anus; the sides tinged with 

 grayish-olivaceous. A concealed patch of pale orange-rufous on the crown, hidden by 

 the grayish tips to the feathers. Eyelids and an obscure superciliary line yellowish-white, 

 a dusky obscure streak through the eye. Inner webs of tail-feathers broadly edged with 

 white. Female with little or none of the orange on the crown, and the white edgings to 

 inner webs of tail-featliers. Young lacking the orange entirely, and with two fulvous- 

 whitish bands on the wing. Length, 4.70; wing, 2.25; tail, 2.00. 



Hab. Middle Province of North America; Yukon and McKenzie River district. Very 

 rare in the Eastern Province of United States; Mexico in winter; Oaxaca, La Parada, 

 (Sclater) ; Orizaba, winter (Sumichrast). 



This variety inhabits the interior regions of North America, from the 

 Yukon southward into Mexico ; westward, its range meets that of the var. 

 lutescens at about the meridian of 116°, while eastward it extends beyond the 

 Mississippi, though rare east of the latter region. Specimens from Southern 

 Illinois (where it is abundant in its migrations) and from Wisconsin are pre- 

 cisely like Eocky Mountain examples ; but several in the collection before us 

 from the South Atlantic States (Florida, Georgia, etc.) are so different as almost 

 to warrant their separation as a different variety. These individuals are most 

 like the style of the interior, — var. celata, — but are even less yellowish, and 

 the whole plumage is very dark and dingy ; all of them, too, lack any trace 

 whatever of orange on the crown. Should all specimens from this region 

 agree in the latter respect, the series from the Southeastern States is certainly 

 entitled to recognition as a variety, for which we propose the name obmura. 



