AA Bkewstek, A New Warbler and Song Sparrow. j a u n 



DESCRIPTIONS OF A NEW WARBLER AND A NEW 

 SONG SPARROW. 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



On examining the large series of Parula Warblers contained in 

 the United States National Museum and in my own collection — 

 in all upwards of two hundred specimens — I find that the birds 

 which breed in the lowlands of our Southern States differ so 

 appreciably from those which pass their summers at the North 

 as to make it desirable to separate the two subspecifically. The 

 southern form has first claim to the name americana, for Catesby's 

 excellent plate and description of "Pants fringillaris" (Nat. 

 Hist. Car., etc. I, 1 73 1, p. 64), on which Linnaeus based his 

 Parus americanus (Sys. Nat., I, 1758, p. 190), were unmistakably 

 taken from a southern bird. As no one of the other names 

 which have been applied to the species at large seems to be 

 clearly available for the northern form, 1 I propose to call the latter 



Compsothlypis americana usneae,- new subspecies. North- 

 ern Parula Warbler. 



Type, $ ad., No. 5392, Collection of VV. Brewster, Lake Umbagog', 

 Maine, May 14, 1881 ; W. Brewster. 



1 Ficeduhi ludoviciana Briss. (Orn. Ill, 1760, p. 500, pi. 26), Motacilla hidovi- 

 ciana Gmel. (Sys. Nat. I, 1788, p. 983, based on Brisson) and Motacilla eques 

 Boddaert (Planches Enlum., 1783, pi. 731, fig. 1, 709 fig. 1) all relate exclu- 

 sively to the southern bird. Sylvia torquata Vieill. (Ois. Am. Sept., II, 1807, 

 p. 38, pi. 99) is in some doubt inasmuch as " New York " is mentioned in 

 connection with its range, but the accompanying description, as far as it can 

 be identified, applies to the southern form. Sylvia pusilla Wils. (Am. Orn. 

 IV, 181 1, p. 17, pi. 28) is preoccupied in Latham's 'Index Ornithologicus,' 

 Supplement, II. 1801, p. 56, by Sylvia pusilla — Acanthiza pusilla Vigors, an 

 Australian bird belonging to the family Timeliidce. 



2 This bird usually, if not invariably, builds its nest in or of the (Jsnca 

 ' moss,' while its southern representative, the true C. americana, is almost 

 equally addicted to nesting in the .Spanish moss (Tillandsia). 



