Vol ,'s,/ 1 111 ] Brewster, .1 New Warbler and Song Sparrow. AC 



Comparative Diagnoses. 



Compsothlypis americana. — Averaging slightly .smaller but with a 

 longer bill. Adult male with more yellow on the under parts and 

 less black or blackish on the lores and malar region ; the dark collar 

 across the jugulum narrow, obscure, often nearly wanting; the chest 

 pale, diffuse russet, without obvious markings. 



Breeding Range. — The South Atlantic and Gulf States east of Texas, 

 northward near the Atlantic Coast to the District of Columbia, and in the 

 interior to Mt. Carmel, Illinois. 



C. a. usneae. — Averaging slightly larger but with a shorter bill. Adult 

 male with less yellow on the under parts and more black or blackish on 

 the lores and malar region ; the dark collar across the jugulum black or 

 blackish, broad and conspicuous ; the chest mottled or spotted with rich 

 brownish chestnut. 



Breeding Range. — New England, New York, and west wart) along the 

 northern tier of States, northward into the Maritime Provinces and Canada. 



Although the characters just pointed out are all, apparently, 

 of greater or less diagnostic value, no one of them, unfortunately, 

 is quite constant. The most reliable distinction is that of the 

 depth and definition of the reddish brown on the chest. With 

 both forms the feathers of this part have brown centres and yellow 

 margins, but in americana the brown is so pale and suffused with 

 yellowish that the whole area over which it is distributed appears 

 nearly uniform in tone, whereas in usnecs the brown is so rich 

 and red (approaching chestnut in many birds) that it contrasts 

 strongly with the yellow by which it is bordered, and gives the 

 plumage the appearance of being rather distinctly mottled or 

 spotted. This difference is almost as pronounced in young males 

 in autumn as in old birds in breeding plumage. A still more 

 striking character is to be found in the relative depth and extent 

 of the dark collar on the jugulum, but while in fully seventy-five 

 per cent of my specimens of usnece this collar is much broader and 

 blacker than in any of the examples of americana, a few spring 

 males of the former have it but poorly defined or even practically 

 wanting. Such birds are probably immature. With some of them 

 the yellow of the under parts is quite as extended as in typical 

 americana, but as a rule usnece has nmch the less yellow of the two, 

 especiallv on the throat. It is difficult to separate females of the 

 two forms save by the difference in size, and in the shape and pro- 



