306 BIRDS OF THE NEW YORK CITY REGION 



the bird is much more likely to be mistaken for a Tennessee 

 Warbler, of which it is an exact replica. Here the relatively 

 stout bill versus the needle-shaped bill of the Tennessee 

 Warbler is the best clue. The former has a body which may 

 be described as stout and chubby, while the Warbler is very 

 slender. The female Black-throated Blue Warbler is another 

 possible source of error. While not so close in shade of color, 

 the pattern is again the same, and the shape and bill have a 

 closer resemblance. I have known the Philadelphia Vireo 

 for fifteen years not only as a transient but also on its 

 breeding grounds and winter quarters, and would sum 

 up my experience as follows: I have never seen a Red- 

 eyed or Warbling Vireo that I thought was a Philadelphia; 

 I have never seen a Philadelphia really well that I thought 

 was anything else; I have frequently followed up birds as 

 Philadelphia Vireos that proved to be Tennessee Warblers, 

 female Black-throated Blue Warblers, or not satisfactorily 

 determinable. 



The Philadelphia Vireo is unquestionably one of our very 

 rarest migrants, and one of the very few species that has not 

 been recorded more often in the last twenty years than for- 

 merly, with an enormous increase of observers on the lookout 

 for it. It is not without significance that our six most active 

 local field ornithologists have detected exactly two individuals 

 in twenty years' observations on the part of each one of them. 

 It is hard to explain just why the bird should occur less 

 rarely up the Hudson River Valley and at the extreme eastern 

 end of Long Island, when both these migration routes nor- 

 mally converge at New York City. 



Long Island. Very rare transient, collected once in spring 



less than ten specimens in fall; May 21; September 14 to 28; Mr. 



Roy Latham has several records in recent years at Orient, and Mr. 



Wm. T. Helmuth has collected or seen several individuals recently 



at Easthampton; there are only three records in 43 years for the 



western end of the island. 



ORIENT. Rare transient; May 14 to 25; September 14 

 to 25. 



