rjjS BLUE-WINGED YELLOW WARBLER. 



on the inner web at the termination (f the vein. But when I came to api'ly the test to the only two aiipar- 

 ently mature birds which Mr. Brewster has, one is Vike the Golden-win;^ and one like the Lhic-winiied 

 Yellow. A half a dozen other younger birds were like the Golden-wing, all having tire dark spaces on ilie 

 vein at the termination of tlie second feather. Thus far then, the evidence shows tliat the tail coloration of 

 both Brewster's and Lawrence's Warblers is similar to that of the Golden-wing, excepting in the one case 

 noticed above, and in regard to this, I think that an examination of a larger series will show that this is 

 simply one of the small percentage also found in typical Golden-wings. 



Now, looking at the question regarding the status of these two forms of birds in a broad light, guided 

 bv the facts as they are presented to us, I cannot avoid considering both Lawrence's and Brewster's War- 

 blers, not as hybrids between H. pinus and chrysoptera, nor as cdor ])lui';e3 of either, or both, but as incipi- 

 ent species, derived, and that recently, within, at least, the last fifty years, directly from the Golden-winged 

 Warbler. That Lawrence's Warbler has yellow below and white wing bars may be accounted for by sup- 

 posing that, as is quite probable, both IL pinus and IL chrysoptera had a common ancestor (possibly IL 

 bachmani) which was yellow below, and this hypothesis is borne out by the fact that Brewster's War- 

 bler is inclined to become yellow below, thus showing an inclination to e.xhibit a strong ancestral character. 

 My studies in other fields of zoology, among invertebrates, have tauglit me tliat incipient siiecies are ajit to 

 remain for some time in an unsettled condition; they not only exhibit remote ancestral chai-acters not prom- 

 inently shown in tlieir immediate progenitors, but also assume new correlative features, thus becoming 

 quite ilirVerent from any ancestor, near or remote. In short, I see nothing in either Brewster's or Lawrence'.s 

 Warblers which may not have been produced through the action of well-known laws of evolution, and all 

 within a very few years or within ten or a dozen generations of bird life. I must now return i'ov a moment 

 to the so-cailed hybrids between H. pinus and IL chrysoptera. A specimen so labeled in Mr. Brewster's 

 collection has all the coloration, tail feathers included, of H. pinus, excepting that it has yellow wing bars 

 much as in H, chrysoptera. Now I find upon examining the series of IL pinus that there is almost always 

 a tinge of yellow on the wing bars, and that from this mere tinging all stages may be found between it and 

 as perfectly j^ellow wing bars as are seen in the so-called hybrid. In fact, one or two in the pinus series are 

 as highly colored as this is. In conclusion, I ought, perhaps, to say that in writing the above statements, 

 re<Mrdhi"- the hybrids, I have simply taken the lables on the skins as I find them, and do not know whether 

 they express Mr. Brewster's opinion in regard to names or not, for although he kindly gave mc permission to 

 examine his specimens, he was absent at the time, and I have not since seen him. 



Lawrence's Warbler occurs in summer in Southern Connecticut, where it appears to be not uncommon, 

 and southward as far as Virginia. 



HELMiNTHOPHAGA PINUS. 

 Biue-winged Yellow Warbler- 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sp. Ch. Size medium, form rather slender. Wing bars and spots on tail, present. Color, adult 

 male. Top of head orange yellow. Remainder of upper jiarts of body, includhig upper tail coverts, green- 

 ish yellow. Wings brown with the primaries edged with bluish 

 and the secondaries, especially the upper, with greenish tips of both 

 rows of wing coverts white, often strongly tinged with yellow. 

 'Tail brown edged with bluish. There is an elongated spot on the 

 termination of the inner web of the three outer tail feathers, 

 which on the outer does not quite reach the termitiation of tlie 

 vein, but which on the next two, extends alnng the vein quite to 

 its termination Sides of head and lower parts, excepting under 

 Fig. 80. Head and termination wing and tail coverts, which are white tinged with yellow, ricii 

 of second tail feather of adult Blue- golden yellow. A narrow black line extends through eye, and 

 winged Yellow Warbler. by contrast above, is a supercilliary line of yellow. Iris, bill, and 



fee t brown. Female similar, but duller in color. 



"'«,; 



