122 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



brown; under parts creamy white with a lemon-yellow tinge, most pronounced on the 

 breast and abdomen faintest on the throat and crissum; sides of body brownish olive; 

 sides of breast olivaceous ashy, extending completely across the breast in a broad but 

 rather indistinct band of pale, nebulous spots; throat, abdomen and crissum immaculate; 

 a dusky stripe starting at the lores (which are nearly black) passes backward along the 

 side of the head intersecting the eye and separating a conspicuous, brownish white su- 

 perciliary stripe from the region below the eye, which is dappled with a reddish brown on 

 a creamy white ground. There is also a short, yellowish, concealed median stripe on the 

 forehead. Irfs hazel; legs and feet flesh-color (notes taken from freshly killed specimens). 

 "Dimensions. L. 5.65; ex., 9.00; wing, 2.82; tail. 2.03; tar, .74; culmen from base, .70; from 

 feathers, .61; from nostril, .42; depth of bill at ant. cor. of nostril, .18; width at same point, 

 .13. Sexes indistinguishable. 



"Juv., first plumage. (s No. 224, A. T. W.. Charleston, June 9, 1884.) Wings and tail 

 essentially as in the adult; abdomen dirty white; rest, of plumage, including the crown, 

 nape, back, rump, throat, breast, sides of head, neck and body, and the wing-coverts, 

 nearly uniform dull cinnamon brown, without bands, spots or any other markings what- 

 ever, even on the head. Another specimen from the same brood, but apparently older, 

 has the lores distinctly black, the light space on the abdomen nearly obscured by a brow- 

 nish tipping on many of the feathers, and the general coloring lighter, approaching choc- 

 olate-brown In places. 



"The above-described plumage is very odd and striking. In general coloring the 

 bird seems to most nearly resemble the young of Oporornis formosus.* It differs so wide- 

 ly from the adult H. swainsoni that no one would suspect their identity were it not for the 

 bill, which in the smallest specimen before me shows all the essential characteristics of 

 the genus. 



"Juv.fallpiumage.(t No. 354, A. T. W , Charleston, Aug. 25, 1884.) Entire upper parts 

 rich olive strongly tinged with reddish brown, the crown scarcely deeper colored than 

 the back, the wings a trifle redder; loral stripe blackish; superciliary stripe tinged with 

 yellow; under parts strongly yellowish. Otherwise like the adult. 



"Variations. Among the adult and fall-plumaged young before me there is much va- 

 riation in the size and shape of the bill, as well as In general coloration. Some examples 

 have the upper and lower outlines of the bill nearly if not quite straight; in others the cul- 

 men is strongly curved, the gonys often with an appreciable angle. Again some speci- 

 mens have the bill decidedly notched at the tip, although in the majority it is plain. As a 

 rule (but not invariably) young birds seem to have a shorter, slenderer and straighter bill 

 than do the adults. 



"The color variations range between two extremes. In one the crown, wings, and 

 tail are bright reddish brown almost reddish chestnut on the secondaries in decided 

 contrast with the back, which is deep brownish olive; the underparts strongly yellowish. 

 In the other the wings and tail are concolor with the back, which is of a plain grayish 

 olive; the crown dull reddish brown; the under parts creamy white scarcely, if at all, yel- 

 lowish. That these variations are not sexual is evident, for the richest-colored bird in 

 the whole series is a female (No. 137, A. T. W., May 10.) and several of the dullest, males; 

 that they are not connected with age is equally certain, for among the young birds still 

 bearing traces of first plumage both types occur. As a rule, however, in autumn they are 

 more apt to be yellow beneath than are breeding birds, but in none of the specimens 



*As described by Mr. Ridgway, Bull. N. 0. C., Vol. III. No. 3, April, 1868, p. 60. I have 

 no specimens for comparison. 



