BULLETIN 



OF THE 



NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Vol. IV. OCTOBER, 1879. No. 4. 



NOTE ON THE BLACK-CAPPED GREENLET, VIREO ATRI- 

 CAPILLUS OF WOODHOUSE. 



BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U. S. A. 



We are enabled to present our readers with a colored plate with 

 this number of the Bulletin, through the liberality of Mr. J. C. Sin- 

 clair, the well-known lithogi'apher of Philadelphia, who very kindly 

 offered to engrave for us the pretty little study in water-colors of 

 the pair of Greenlets made by Mr. W. H. Werner, as noted by Mr. 

 Brewster in his interesting article on Vireo atricapillus [anted,, p. 

 101). The birds were taken, with the nest and four eggs, on the 

 6tli of May, 1878, in Comal County, Texas, about twenty-three 

 miles northwest of New Braunfels, by Mr. Werner, to whom is due 

 the credit of bringing to notice the first authenticated nest and eggs 

 of the species. We would refer to Mr. Brewster's article {I. c. pp. 

 99-103) for the full particulars of this capture, including the de- 

 scription of the subjects of Mr. Sinclair's plate, and a review of 

 what had before been known of the species. 



It is a singular but well-attested fact in the history of several 

 of our birds, that they remained so long unnoticed after their dis- 

 covery that they were in danger of being relegated to the list of 

 "lost species," and then suddenly became notorious. Baird's and 

 LeConte's Buntings, and Sprague's Pipit, and the Black-capped 

 Greenlet, are illustrations of this. How little we really learned of 

 this species during the period from 1852 to 1878 may be seen by 

 referring to our " Birds of the Colorado Valley " (pp. 533, 534), 

 where a fair statement of the case is given, with a full index to the 



VOL. IV. 13 



