i886.] Brewster oh the Birds of Wesier>i North Carolina. Ill 



58. Piranga rubra. Summer Tanager. — It is probable that this spe- 

 cies occurs more or less commonly atxl generally over the lower portions 

 of the plateau region, but I found it only on the eastern slope of the Blue 

 Ridge, at Old Fort, where it was about as numerous as P. erythromclas. 



59. Progne subis. Purple Martin. — Common in most of the towns 

 and villages, building chiefly if not wholly in Martin boxes. 



60. Stelgidopteryx serripennis. Rough-winged Swallow. — The 

 characteristic Swallow of the valley region, common almost everywhere 

 throughout the settled country up to about 2500 feet, and nesting in ledges 

 and clay banks formed by railroad cuttings or the erosion of streams. 



(Note. — I believe I saw the Bank Swallow once or twice, but I did not 

 identify it fully. The Barn, White-bellied, and Eave Swallows were appar- 

 ently absent. 



61. Ampelis cedrorum. Cedar Bird.— Very common everywhere. 

 Seen in greatest numbers along streams, catching flies over the water. On 

 the Black Mountains I found a pair which were apparently about to breed 

 in some spruces bordering a clearing at 5000 feet altitude. 



63. Vireo solitarius alticola, subsp. nov. Mountain 

 Solitary Vireo. 



SuBSP. CHAR. — Diflering from solitarius proper in being larger, with a 

 stouter bill, and duller, darker, and more uniform coloring above. 



$ ad. (No. 10577, Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina, May 29, 

 1885. W. Brewster). Above dusky, almost blackish, plumbeous, slightly 

 tinged with greenish on the rump, back and wings; beneath white, the 

 sides yellow, washed with dusky-olive; wings dark brown, all the feathers 

 except the first primary with light, slightly greenish outer edges and 

 white inner ones; the wing-coverts tipped with dull white, forming two 

 bands; tail-feathers similar, but the outer pair edged externally with 

 white, the inner pair without white on their inner margins; a narrow 

 white ring encircling the eye, interrupted anteriorly by a blackish loral 

 spot, and beyond this extending forward to the nostril in an imperfectly- 

 defined whitish line, which is only continuous when the feathers are dis- 

 arranged so as to expose their bases. 



Four other specimens (three from the same locality, one from the Black 

 Mountains), are essentially similar, but two of them have the orbital ring 

 and line to the nostrils pure white and well defined, although it is not as 

 broad and conspicuous in any of them as in true solitarius. 



This new form may be easily distinguished from solitarius by its larger 

 size, heavier bill, and difterent color of the upper parts. In solitarius the 

 crown and sides of the head are clear, pure ash, in strong contrast with 

 the olive green of the back and rump, whereas in alticola the entire upper 

 parts are nearly uniform blackish-plumbeous, with only a faint tinge of 

 greenish on the back, which is essentially concolor with the crown. In 

 these respects the bird resembles V. plumbeus, but its coloring above is 

 darker and dingier, its sides strongly yellowish, as in solitarius. From 

 cassini 2ir\d propinqua it diff"ers too widely to require special comparison. 



Habitat. Mountains of Western North Carolina. 



