THE TOLMIE WARBLER. Ty 197 
No. 79. 
TOLMIE’S WARBLER. 
A. O. U. No. 680. Oporornis tolmiei (Townsend). 
Synonym.—Macciriivray's WARBLER. 
Description.—Adult male in spring and summer: Fore-parts in general, 
including head and neck all around and chest, blackish slate or slate gray ; extreme 
forehead and lores jet black; feathers of lower chest slate-black narrowly fringed 
with ashy gray; extreme chin usually white; a sharp touch of white on upper 
eyelid behind and a longer one on lower lid; remaining plumage bright greenish 
yellow to olive-green, clearest yellow, canary to olive-yellow, on breast and 
remaining underparts, centrally, and on bend of wing, shading thru yellowish 
olive green on sides to olive-green of upperparts; outer primary edged with white 
on outer web. Bill dusky brown above, paler below; feet and legs light brown; 
iris brown. Adult male m fall and winter: Similar but feathers of auriculars and 
hindneck and sometimes crown tipped with dull brown; ashy skirtings of throat 
and chest more extensive, sometimes nearly concealing the black. Adult female 
in spring: Like male but slate of hood replaced by dull brownish gray (mouse 
gray) above and by pale brownish gray on chin, throat and chest. In fall plumage 
still more extensively gray below. Young females lack the hood altogether being 
simply olive green on crown, yellow on throat, ete. Length about 5.50 (139.7) ; 
wing 2.44 (62); tail 2.16 (55); bill .45 (11.4); tarsus .85 (21.6). 
Recognition Marks.—WVarbler size; slaty hood of male distinctive; contrast 
of color between chest and breast usually apparent. A frequenter of thickets, 
with a sharp tsick or chuck note of alarm. 
Nesting.—West: in thickets in upright crotch of bush from six inches to 
three feet from ground; a bulky affair of coarse dead grass, rootlets and trash, 
lined with fine black rootlets and horse-hair; measures, outside, 44% wide by 
2% deep, inside, 2% wide by 114 deep. Eggs: 3-5, usually 4, dull white, heavily 
marked around larger end with reddish browns and lavender. Av. size, .70 x .54 
(17.8x 13.7). Season: first week in June; one brood. 
General Range.—Western United States and British Columbia breeding 
south to Arizona and western Texas; east during migrations to western Nebraska, 
etc.; south in winter to Cape St. Lucas and over whole of Mexico and Central 
America to Colombia ( Bogota). 
Range in Washington.—Summer resident in dense thickets thruout the 
State from sea level to about 2,000 feet elevation. 
Authorities.—Sy/via tolmieci Townsend, Narrative, April 1839, 343 (Colum- 
ima River). C&S. L?. Rh. D«. Sr. Ra. D2. Ss2, Kk. J. B. E. 
Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov. B. E. 
WE shall have to import the word “chaparral” if we are to characterize 
with any brevity the sort of cover this Warbler loves. A great confusion of 
willow, alder, dogwood, syringa, ocean-spray, and huckleberry is his delight. 
