132 BIUDS OF ILLINOIS. 



the back with more or less of an indistinct patch of olive -green: throat and eyelids gray- 

 ish white, abdomen, anal region, and crissum pure white; jugulum and sides of breast 

 pale ash-gray. From two specimens obtained at Mt. Carmel, III., July 17. 1871. Both of 

 these show a large patch of bright gamboge- yellow on the breast, these feathers de- 

 noting the commencement of the adult plumage. One of them also has the chin and 

 an indistinct supraloral line tinged with yellow. 



"Autumnal males are browner on the chin, yellower on the throat and jugulum. 

 Head tinged with greenish; secondaries edged with greenish yellow. Autumnal females 

 are light greenish olive above, dirty white beneath. 



"In very brightly colored spring males, there is frequently (as In 58,335, Philadelphia) 

 a well-defined, broad blackish band across the jugulum, anterior to an equally distinct 

 and rather broader one across the breast, of a brown tint, spotted with black, while the 

 sides are much spotted with chestnut-brown; the blue above is very pure, and the green 

 patch on the back very sharply defined." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



This pretty little warbler is abundant during the migrations, and 

 is also not uncommon in swampy forests during summer, when it 

 inhabits chiefly those woods where the long gray lichens (Usnea) 

 are abundant on the trunks and branches of the trees. In these 

 long beard-like tufts it constructs its nest, which is so artfully con- 

 cealed that only the actions of the owners can reveal its location. 



GENUS DENDROICA GRAY. 



Dendroica GRAY, List of Gen. and Subg. B. 2d ed. Appendix, 1842, 8. Type, Motacilla cor- 

 ona/a LINN. 



The essential characters of this genus, as here enlarged, have 

 been given on page 115. Therefore, we will in this place give the 

 differential characters of the two so-called subgenera, fuller diag- 

 noses of which will be found under their separate headings: 



Dendroica. Bill not acute, the gonys convex, the notch distinct. Tongue not lacerate 

 or fringed at tip. 



Perissoglossa. Bill very acute, the gonys slightly concave near tip, the notch obsolete 

 or very indistinct. Tongue forked and deeply lacerate at tip. 



Subgenus Perissoglossa Baird. 



Perissoglossa BAIRD, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 181. Type, Moiacllla tigrina GM. 

 "GEN. CHAR. Form of Dendroica, but bill slender, acute, with very indistinct notch; the 

 commissure gently arched or curved from the base; the gonys also straight, or even 



