>S9'1 LooMis OH Birds of Chester Coiiiily. South Carolina. I 6a 



served commonly in certain restricted situations near the town in 1883 

 and 1S84. I supposed then that previously it had heen overlooked, but 

 I am now constrained to believe that its appearance was sporadic, as it 

 has not been seen since in the six years that have elapsed. It is remark- 

 able that it should come so abruptly, be common for two seasons, and 

 then utter!\- abandon the locality. 



56. Vireo solitarius. Blue-headkd Virko.— The Blue-headed V'ireo is 

 a regular, but not common migrant. In spring it occurs in April (4 to 21). 

 In fall, it returns about the middle of October — 15th the earliest date — 

 and abides until November. Laggards sometimes linger on into this 

 latter month. These Vireos sing finely in April, and occasionally, though 

 imperfectly, in autumn. While uttered with equal force and unction, the 

 musical efforts of the vernal performers (intermediates) seem to lack the 

 penetrating power peculiar to alticola as heard in its mountain home. 

 Still they may not attain their complete song when migrating. 



All the spring specimens that have been taken are intermediate between 

 solitarius and alticola (their upper parts beyond the rump being stronglv 

 washed with plumbeous), while the majority of the autumnal ones are 

 typical solitarius. Taking the Pickens examples (Auk, Vol. VII, p. 126) 

 as a basis of comparison, I am impelled to rank these intergrades with 

 solitarius. The uniform deep black of the bill in adult alticola seems to 

 be a more potent character in the discrimination of the two forms than the 

 variable plumbeous veiling of the upper portions, which, however, in ex. 

 tven^e alticola is always diagnostic. In Chester specimens — both in spring 

 and fall — the lower mandible invariably displays plumbeous. In some the 

 pkitnbeous predominates, the tip only being black. The black of the 

 whole bill is of a slaty cast, not an intense black as in the mountain race. 

 Mr. Ridgwa}' has informed me that the examples of solitarius which have 

 passed under his notice have invariably had the basal half, at least, of the 

 lower mandible plumbeous. 



1S9. Helinaia swainsonii. Swainson's Warbler.— A male was taken 

 Aug. 30, 18S7, in the neighborhood of the town (Auk, IV, 347). Whether 

 this individual was simply an estray from the seaboard or a transient from 

 an inland habitat can only be surmised. It is worthy of note that a terrific 

 storm prevailed ten days before along the coast of North Carolina, and 

 that the largest flock of Ricebirds — chiefly coastwise migrants in South 

 Carolina at this season — ever witnessed here in the southward migration 

 was met with Aug. 22 — two days after the storm. 



26. Helmitherus vermivorus. Wurm-eating Warbler. — This 

 Warbler has been noted from July 25 to October 6, and from April 19 to 

 May 12. So far as known, it does not breed. It appears to be more num- 

 erous in some years than in others. Viewed in the most favorable aspect, 

 it does not reach higher rank in the scale of abundance than tolerably com- 

 mon During its transits it is seen at intervals rather than continuously. 



190. Helminthophila pinus. Blue-winged Warbler. — A male was 

 obtained April 30, 1S87. This is the only instance of its capture in this 

 vicinity. 



