174 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Sylvania mitrata (GMEL.) 



HOODED WARBLER. 



Popular synonyms. Black-headed Warbler; Hooded Flycatching Warbler; Mitred 

 Warbler; Selby's Warbler. 

 Motacilla mitrata GMEL. S. N. i, 1788, 977. 



Sylvia mitrata LATH. NUTT. Man. i, 1832. 373. AUD. Orn. Biog. ii, 1834, 68, pi. 60. 

 Wilsonia mitrata BP. Comp. List. 1838, 23. RIDGW. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 173. No. 124. 

 Sylvania mitrata NUTT. Man. 2d ed. i, 1840,333. 



Myiodioctes mitratus AUD. Synop. 1839,48; B. Am. ii, 1841. 12, pi. 71 ("mitrata"). BAIED, 

 B. N. Am. 1858,292; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 211; Review, 1865,239. COUES. Key, 1872, 

 109; Check List 1873, No. 101; 2d ed. 1882, No. 146; B. N. W. 1874. 78; B. Col. Val. 1878, 

 324.-B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. i, 1874.314,pl. 15, figs. 10,11,-RiDGW. Nona. N. Am. B. 

 1881, No. 124. 



Sylvia cucullata WILS. Am. Orn. iii, 1811, 101.pl. 26,flg. 3. 

 Muscicapa selbyii AUD. Orn. Biog. i, 1831, 46, pL 9. 

 Muscicapa selbii NUTT. Man. i, 1832, 296. 



HAB. Eastern United States, north to Connecticut and Hudson River Valleys, west- 

 ern New York, and Michigan; breeding throughout its summer range; casual to 

 Massachusetts ; west to Kansas. Winters in Cuba, Jamaica, eastern Mexico, and Central 

 America, south to Panama; Bermudas. 



"8p. CHAB. Male. Bill black ; feet pale yellow. Head and neck all round and fore- 

 part of the breast black. A broad patch on the forehead extending round on the entire 

 cheeks and ear-coverts, with the under parts bright yellow. Upper parts and sides of 

 the body olive-green. Greater portion of inner web of outer three tail-feathers white. 



" Fern a le similar, but without the black; the crown like the back*; the forehead yel- 

 lowish; the sides of the head yellow, tinged with olive on the lores and ear-coverts. 

 Throat bright yellow. 



"Length, 6.00; wing.2.75; tail.2.55. (Skin.)" (Hist. N. Am. .) 



"Mr. C. Hart Merriam, in his late "Eeview of the Birds of Con- 

 necticut" (pp. 25 and 29), rectifies an error in the recent descriptions 

 of the females of this species. I wish to add my testimony to his 

 conclusions, "that the female bird, like the male, is several years 

 at least three in attaining its full plumage; and that the two 

 sexes, when fully adult, can only be distinguished by the fact that, 

 in the female, the throat, though strongly tinged with black, is 

 never pure black as in the male." Long ago I discovered these 

 facts, as the bird is an abundantly breeding summer resident here, 

 where I have taken several of their nests in a single walk. With 

 a large series of specimens before me, I can fully endorse Mr. 

 Merriam's views. The females of the second summer are entirely 

 without any black upon the head, and I have frequently found them 

 sitting upon their eggs in this condition. Males of the same age 

 show very evident traces of black. Only in extreme examples does 



* See, however, Mr. Mearns's note, given below. 



