LAWKEMCES WAKBLER, 577 



find regarding the finding of the three furms mated, and must say that in no ease do I think that the evidence 

 that the birds of two forms, found in the vicinity of tiie nests, or young, wore mates, is absolutely certain. 

 Certainly no one can collect either eggs or nestling birds long without becoming aware of the fact that birds 

 of many species are very sympathetic, and exhibit nearly, or quite as much solicitude when the nest or youn» 

 of another bird is approached, as they do when their own offspring is in real or fancied danger. Keepin" this 

 point in view, I think, that, while acknowledging that some cases as given by collectors of wide e.xperience are 

 apparently strongly in favor of two forms mating together, the absolute fact of Brewster's Warbler matin<', 

 with either the Blue-winged Yellow or with the Golden-winged, yet remains to be proved. See further re, 

 marks upon this subject under head of observations in the succeeding sub-species. 



Up to date, some fifty or more specimens of this singular form of warbler have been taken, two only 

 however, in Massachusetts, the remainder have been collected in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and 

 .■sauthward. 



HABITS. 



All I can Siiy of the liabit.'< of tlii.s f^uh-.speciL's tVoui pL-rsomil observation, i.s that just 

 twenty-five years ago, the 18tli of last May, I ac'jconij)iuiied Mr. Wni. Brewster in a 

 collecting trip to the hill in Ni-wton, of whi('h I have spoken, in order to show him the 

 h:i))itat of the Golden-winged Warbler. Hearing wliat I thought was one sing, I called 

 his attention to it. Mr. Brewster shot the bird which proved to be the first spechneH 

 «f theWhite-tliroated Warbler known to science, 



Helminthophaga chrysoptera lawrencii 

 Lawrence's Warbler- 

 Plate XXII. Adult male in Spring (lower figure). 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sub Sp. Ch. Size, and form of the Uolden-winged Warbler but differs in being deep yellow beneatli, 

 ■much as in the Blue-winged j'ellow Warbler, and in having whitish wing bars as in that species, while the 

 black line through the eye is narrow as in H. c. leucobronchialis, but the full sized black throat patch is 

 developed as in H. chrysoptera. Adult female, similar, but with the throat patch indicated only, much as 

 seen in the female of II. baehmani. 



OBSERVATIONS. 

 Since writing the article on the Brewster's Warbler I have had the opportunity, through the kindness 

 of Mr. Brewster, of carefully studying the large series of Warblers of this genus in his collection. Previ- 

 ous to this I had noticed one point of difference between the Golden-winged Warbler and the Blue-winged 

 Yellow which I do not remember having seen mentioned, that is that in the Golden-winged Warbler the ter- 

 minal white spot on the inner web of the second tail f«atlR>r d(jcs not extend along the vein quite to the ter- 

 mination of the feather, (See Fig. S-j, a, ) whereas, in the Blue-winged Yellow, this spot does extend along 

 the vein quite to tlie termination of the feather. ( See Fig. SO. ) Upon examining Mr. Brewster's series, 

 (between fifty and sixty of each species) I find that in a large pcrecntage of both this character holds good. 

 In about five percent of the Golden-wings I find that the white does extend along the vein to the termina- 

 •tion, and in one or two cases it even encroaches upon the dark color on the outer web, thus crossing the vein. 

 In still a less percentage of the Blue-winged Yellows, I find that the spot on the second tail feather does not 

 ■extend along the vein quite to the termination of the feather, but possibly this may be a mark of comparative 

 immaturity. I also find that in quite a number of specimens the white crosses the vein and occupies an 

 elongated space on the outer web. Both sexes, in both species, share alike in these markings. Now it had 

 occurred to me that this test regarding the six)ts on the tail feathers applied to both Brewster's and Law- 

 sence's Warlilers, might settle in some measure the ve.xed question of their specific status. As far as Brews- 

 iter's Warbler was concerned, all examined were like the typical Golden-wing in having a small dark sjiace 



