Brkwstkr 0)1 a Collect ion of Arizona Birds. 1 43 



vertex ami side>^ of he;ul and neck nearlv pure; tlie back faintlv tinged 

 with olive; the rump and an edging on the tail-feathers, dull olive-green. 

 Wings with two nearly confluent bands on the coverts, and the outer 

 edges of the inner secondaries, broadly white; outer quills edged more 

 narrowly with the same color. Beneath brownish or smoky-white, with 

 a mere wash of yellowish on the sides and crissum. Upper eyelid duskv 

 brown : remainder of orbital region, with the lores, ashv-white in decided 

 contrast with the nearly clear cinereous of the head generallv. Linino- 

 of wings white. 



Z>/mi'?/s/oMs. Length. 5.20: extent. S. 50 : wing. 2.90; tail. 2.2^; cul- 

 men, .50. 



Habiiat. Arizona and New Mexico. 



Four additional specimens otYer no variations aftecting anv of the char- 

 acters above detailed. 



In its generally dull, grayish coloration, with little traceof olive or yellow 

 shades, this Vireo is curiously like V. pusillits. but the under parts are 

 obscured with brownish, while the differences in size and proportions are 

 too evident to require detailed comparison. From the smaller, much 

 brighter-colored V. Imttoiii. which is unmistakably its neai-est L'nited States 

 relative, it may be distinguished by the following diagnoses. 



V. huttoni. — Wing. 2. 28 to 2.37. Olive-green above and olivaceous- 

 yellowish beneath. No clear white anywhere. 



V. huttoni step/ieiisi. — Wing. 2.55 to 2.90. Grayish-ash above with no 

 decided olive-green excepting on the rump and tail. Beneath brownish- 

 white, untinged with yellowish excepting On the sides and crissum. 

 Wing-bands pure white and nearly confluent. 



It will be observed that the above diflerences are closely parallel to those 

 which separate V^i'reo brlli i\ud ]' . ptisilliis. while they are in no respect 

 less important. Indeed were I disposed to eni)ihasize cei^tain ]ieculiarities 

 presented in the wing-fornuila of my type, it would not be difficult to 

 make out an equally good case of speciflc distinctness, but unfortunately, 

 the relative length of the wing-quills (including the spurious primaries) 

 proves to be quite as variable in V. /iiittoiii ixuA its Arizona race, stepkensi, 

 as I find it to be in V. piisi/lns and V. belli, and, I might add, in all closely 

 allied species which I lia\e so far studied. In short, I am convinced that 

 this feature, it" evei" of an\' diagnostic \alue. is so with only a small pro- 

 portion of the birds to wliii'h it has been so tVeeh' and confidently applied. 



In naming this \'ireo after its discoverer. Mr. F. Stephens, I have paid 

 but a deserved compliment to that gentleman's zeal and energy as a field 

 ornithologist. He notes the bird as ''not uncommon in scrub-oaks" among 

 both the Chiricahua and Santa Rita Mountains. He also writes me that 

 he has taken specimens in New Mexico, where, near Fort Bayard, a nest 

 with four eggs was obtained in 1876. In both Territories it seems to be 

 confined to the mountain ranges, where it undoubtedly breeds in all suit- 

 able localities. 



