1C6 fiRKWSTFR 071 BnrJniuut's iVarhlcr. [April 



the course of the Suwanec as a convenient pathway-. Neverthe- 

 less, I cannot help suspecting that they breed numerously in this 

 river-bottom, and that the nest is placed in the Spanish moss 

 {Tillandsia). On several occasions I saw females clinging to 

 streamers of this moss, peeping into it as if looking for a nesting- 

 place, although of coiuse they may have been merelysearching for 

 food. A few of our specimens had the skin thickly lined \\ ith 

 fat, but the majority were in only fair condition. 



Our males, thirty-six in number, vary exceeding]}- in respect to 

 the depth and extent of the black of the head and throat. This in 

 the finest birds is essentially pure with a slight lustre, but most of 

 the black feathers are narrowly tipped with ashy or olive yellow 

 which doubtless disappears later in the season. In the duller birds 

 this light edging is broad and diffused, obscuring or half concealing 

 the black, antl giving the plumage a mottled appearance. Owing 

 partly to this, but chiefly — as is shown by examination of the 

 uniler plumage — to variation in the extent of its actual distribu- 

 tion, the black in some cases appears over the entire throat and 

 jugulum ; in others is restricted to a small central space on the 

 latter, leaving the whole throat, as well as the chin, yellow. 

 Various styles intermediate between these extremes are shown 

 by our series of which scarcely any two specimens are precisely 

 alike. In some the anterior border of the black is abruptly and 

 sharply defined, in others the throat constitutes a neutral area 

 which is spotted or mottled with black on a 3'ellow ground. One 

 bird has the spots confined to the centre of the throat where they 

 form a cluster separated from the black of the jugulum by an in- 

 terval of nearly pure yellow, in another the middle of the throat 

 is immaculate and the spots extend forward along its sides. The 

 posterior border of the black varies similarly in distinctness, but 

 its position is nearly always at about the dividing line between 

 the jugulum and the breast. Its outline is sometimes deeply con- 

 cave, sometimes decidedly convex or rounded, and occasionally 

 nearly straight. The black on the head varies from a solid, 

 glossy patch embracing the entire crown — but never the occiput, 

 as represented in Audubon's plate — to a narrow, dusky band bor- 

 dering the forehead. Even this band is wanting in occasional 

 birds which have the dark color represented only by inconspicu- 

 ous and half-concealed black or dusky spots on the centres of the 

 feathers of the crown. 



The yellow of the underparts is also very variable. In some 



