AMERICAN WARBLERS. 03 



find correlated a short tail, long tail coverts and larger oil sack. The less spe- 

 cialized tongue of the Yellow Warbler would also indicate that it fed on coarser 

 food than the Chestnut-sided. The sternum and accessory bones of both are very 

 nearly alike, as we should expect in two species which are of the same general 

 size and form and which have a common ancestral origin. The larger size of the 

 feet and legs in the Yellow , would be the result of its requiring more grasping 

 power when feeding in exposed situations. 



Allied Species. Ihe species of Wood Warblers most closely allied to 

 the Golden in structure is the Prairie. This bird has a narrow head, and conse- 

 quently a brain about the same form as that of the Yellow. It also has a long 

 neck and legs, but here the resemblance ends, for the stomach is large and the in- 

 testines short, the tail long and its coverts short. The Cerulean Warbler has a 

 jihort tail with long coverts, and the stomach is large and the intestines long, but 

 the skull is as wide as that of the Chestnut-sided, while the Blackburnean has a 

 similar strvicture. Neither of these three species are typical Wood Warblers. 



To sum up the whole matter, we find, as shown, that the members of the 

 genus Dendroica are very variable in size, form, structure and color, in short, 

 the genus is not homogeneous. In the Golden Warblers we have a natural 

 genus, all members of which are bound together by common characters, forming 

 a perfectly homogeneous group which must be considered as distinct as any other 

 genus among our American Warblers. 



YELLOW WARBLER> 



Cliry.socaiitor aestiva. 



Plate VI, Fig. 3, male ; Fig. 4, female. 



Size, 4.75 to 5.10. Yellow throughout, darker above, 

 streaked beneath with reddish. A common summer resident, 

 frequenting shrubbery in open sections. 



Male. Yellow thix)ughout, darker on back ; streaked on breast and sides 

 with reddish. Wings and tail brown, each feather margined on both edges with 

 yellow. 



Female. Similar to the male, but much more dull in color, and with few- 

 er streakings beneath. 



Young. Quite dull yellow, with the top of the head uniform with the 

 back' and although the males have a few streaks below the females have none. 



Nestlings. Very pale yellow, often nearly white below, where there are 

 sometimes indications of streaks. The second plumage, which i« assumed some 



