DENDRCECA .ESTIVA. 431 



920, i ad; " Bearing's Creek," Upper Humboldt Valley, Nevada, September 12. 

 ^ifi—^i — (0—2. Upper mandible, plumbeous black, tbe tomium edged with paler; 

 lower, plumbeous-wbite, darker terminally; iris, burnt sienna; tarsi and toes, plumbe- 

 ous, latter witb a yellowish tinge. 



Dendrceca .estiva. 



Summer Yellow-bird ; Ooldvu H'arbler. 



Motacilla crstiva, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I, 1788, 996. 



JDendrceca a'stiva, Baiud, B.-N. Am., 1858, 282; Catal., 1859, No. 203; Review, 

 1865, 195.— Cooper, Orn. Cal., 87.— CouES, Key, 1872, 97 ; Check List, 1873, 

 No. 70 ; B. N.W., 1874, 54.— B. B. & R., Hist. N. Am. B., 1, 1874, 222, pi. xiv, 

 fig. 1.— Henshaw, 1875, 192. 



This common and familiar little bird was met with everywhere, except 

 during the winter season ; and in all wooded localities, with the exception 

 of the higher forests, which it gave np chiefly to B. audiiboni, was the most 

 abundant and generally distributed member of the family. At Sacramento 

 it was one of the commonest birds, inhabiting every copse, whether of 

 willow, cotton- wood, or oak ; and throughout the Interior it was equallv 

 plentiful in every locality producing a growth of willows or other shrubbery, 

 being most mv;ltiplied in the river-valleys or lower canons, and gradually 

 decreasing in numbers toward the summits of the mountains. No difference 

 whatever exists, apparently, between the western and eastern birds of this 

 species. 



List of specimens. 



11, nest and eggs (3); Sacramento, California, June 8, 1807. Nest on small oak, 

 in grove. 



24, 25, 20, 27, nest and eggs ; Sacramento, California, June 11, 1807. Nests in 

 a small oak-grove, nearly similarly situated, being generally placed on a high branch 

 near the top of the trees, about flfteen or twenty feet from the ground. 



121, <?j«('.; valley of the Truckee, Nevada, August 0, 1867. 5y'g — 7j| — 2-^^—2^ 

 — J— i— If— i- Upper mandible, leaden-black, the tomium whitish; lower, leaden- 

 bluish; iris, hazel ; tarsi and toes, yellowish horn-color, latter yellowish beneath. 



158, ? ad; valley of the Humboldt (Camp 17), September 2. 5/_— 7^— 2,''^— 2— 

 t\— i— If— If. Upper mandible, black, the tomium pale a.shy-lilac; lower mandible, 

 pale ashy-lilac; iris, hazel; tarsi and toes, liver-brown, scutellie margined with ashy- 

 blue. 



881, ? JHt\; East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, August 29, 1808. 4^— 71— (?)— 2. 

 Upper mandible, olive-brown, edged with paler; lower, uniform greenish-white; iris, 

 bister ; tarsi and toes, dilute sepia, strongly washed with yellow. 



