134 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



"Female. Above olivaceous-ash, most yellowish on rump; no black nor chestnut on 

 head. Wins-coverts inconspicuously edged with whitish. Tail spots very inconspicuous 

 Beneath dull white tinged with yellowish on the breast, and streaked as in the male, but 

 with dusky grayish instead of black." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



"First plumage: female, llemiges. rectrices, and primary coverts as in adult. Pileum, 

 nape. rump, and upper tail-coverts dark slaty-brown, the back with an indistinct patch 

 of olive-green. Eyelids, throat, jugulum. and sides of breast dark slate; abdomen, anal 

 region, and crissum soiled white, tinged with dull yellow. From a specimen in my collec- 

 tion shot at Upton. Me., August 21, 1874. This bird exhibits a few irregular patches and 

 isolated feathers of dull yellow on the breast and throat, forerunners of the full plumage." 

 (BBEWSTiB, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club Apr. 1878. p. 60.) 



"The chestnut about the head in adult males varies in amount with the individual; 

 sometimes (as in 20,633, May, Moose Factory, Hudson's Bay Territory) there is an oblong 

 spot of chestnut in the middle of the crown, but generally this is absent. Very frequently 

 the chestnut tinges the throat. All variations in these respects appear, however, to be 

 individual, and not dependent at all on locality. West Indian specimens appear to be 

 absolutely identical with those from North America. 



"Autumnal specimens are browner, the chestnut markings much obscured." (Hist. N. 

 Am..) 



This was until within comparatively a few years a rare bird, 

 whose habits were by no means well known. It passes through Illi- 

 nois during its migrations, but does not, so far as known, remain 

 to breed, although in the mountainous portions of Hayti and Jamaica 

 and perhaps others of the Greater Antilles, it is a permanent resi- 

 dent; thus having a very peculiar distribution, like the Yellow 

 rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) and possibly other members 

 of the family. 



With the exception of two, which were taken in an orchard (when 

 the apple-trees were in bloom), all the specimens of this species 

 secured by the writer were shot from tall tree-tops, the height being 

 so great that it was impossible to identify the species. It therefore 

 seems likely that most examples evade the collector by keeping in 

 the tree-tops at such an elevation that they cannot be distinguished 

 from other Warblers. 



Mr. Nelson (page 99 of his catalogue) says of this species in 

 northeastern Illinois: 



"Very common migrant. May 7th to 25th, and September 5th to 

 20th. In spring, found almost exclusively in the tops of the trees; 

 in autumn found in large numbers along roadsides, borders of woods 

 and fields in company with Dendrceca palmarum, from which it is, 

 with difficulty, distinguished at gunshot, so closely alike are their 

 habits and movements at this season." 



