1SS7.J General Notes. l6^ 



An Overlooked Specimen of Bachman's Warbler. — Some time since, 

 while working on the fine old Lafresnaye Collection in the Boston Society 

 of Natural History I unearthed an interesting and valuable specimen, 

 nothing less in fact than a Bachman's Warbler (Helminthophila bachmant). 

 This bird agrees closelj' with Audubon's figure and description of the 

 adult female, but differs from a female in Mr. Cory's collection by having 

 a well-marked patch of black on the jugulum, and traces of a dark band 

 across the fore part of the crown. The body plumage is fresh and perfect, 

 but shows no indication of a recent moult; the primaries are somewhat 

 faded; the tail-feathers decidedly faded and worn. 



The label bore the inscription, "No. 4079, Dendroica virens, Gmel., N. 

 America." This proved to be a correct transcript of the entry under the 

 corresponding number in the fac-simile Lafresnaye Catalogue belonging 

 to the Society, save that in the latter "N. America" is written in pencil. 

 Going still farther back to the scrap-book where the original Lafresnaye 

 labels are preserved, each numbered in red ink to correspond with the 

 catalogue just mentioned, I found "4079" on a small slip of paper, yellow 



with age, the writing so faded that only "Sylvicola " can be certainly 



deciphered. The dash is followed by a mark resembling the sign $ (was 

 this sign used in ornithology in Lafresnaye's time?) but probably in- 

 tended for a ? There is also something that, looks like "orig ne?" 



The plain inference from these data is that the label last described was 

 the original one belonging to this specimen, and that the person who 

 wrote it (whether Lafresnaye or some correspondent from whom he may 

 have had the skin) was unable to identify the bird. It is equally obvious 

 that the locality entered in pencil in our copy of the Lafresnaye Catalogue 

 was added, doubtless inferentially, after the specimen came into the pos- 

 session of the Society. It follows that the origin of the bird is unknown. 

 Can it be the female figured in Audubon's plate? If I am not mistaken, 

 the latter has been lost sight of. — William Brewster, Cambridge, 

 A/ass. 



Remarks on Four Examples of the Yellow-throated Warbler from 

 Chester County, S. C. — A series of four specimens, taken during September, 

 1SS6, display characters so different from those commonly ascribed to the 

 Yellow-throated Warbler {Dendroica dominica) of the Atlantic States as 

 to merit special notice. The variations in each are as follows : — 



1. 5- Bill (from nostril), 9.2 mm. ; superciliary stripe without yellow; 

 yellow of chin and maxillse interrupted anteriorly by white. 



2. <J. Bill (from nostril), 10 mm. ; superciliary stripe, above the lores, 

 very faintly tinged with yellow for about 4 mm. ; thence immaculate to 

 the base of the upper mandible ; chin and maxillse as in the preceding. 



3. $ , Bill (from nostril) 9.5 mm. ; superciliary stripe, anterior to 

 eye, strongly tinged with yellow for about 4 mm. ; otherwise similar to 

 the foregoing. 



4. Essentially like 3, but with tinge of yellow in superciliary more 

 pronounced. 



