60 GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER 



bachmani, in which the bill is slightly decurved; the rictal 

 bristles are not evident; the wing averages about .70 inches longer 

 than the tail ; the tail-feathers are rather narrow, terminally rounded 

 or obtusely pointed; the under tail-coverts are about three-fourths 

 as long as the tail ; the feet are blackish, the tarsus decidedly longer 

 than the middle-toe and nail. 



Compared with Dendroica the species of Vermivora, as a whole, 

 are plain in color and in pattern of coloration. 



V. chrysoptera and V. pinus are the only species having wing- 

 bars; while with V. bachmani and, to a lesser degree, V. peregrina, 

 they differ from other members of the genus in having the tail marked 

 with white. 



Vermivora contains nine species and two forms of doubtful 

 status, all but one of which, V. crissalis of the Sierra Nevada of 

 Colima, Mexico, are North American. Four species are eastern, one 

 of them, V . peregrina, extending, however, northwestward to Alaska, 

 two are found in the Rocky Mountain region and southward into 

 Mexico, and two, V. celata and V. rubricapilla, range from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, their color showing some response to the vary- 

 ing climatic conditions encountered in so vast an area. 



Although arboreal in habit, the species of this genus nest upon 

 the ground, with the exception of V . lucia which nests in holes, etc., 

 and V . bachmani, which builds in low bushes. 



GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER 



VE3MIVORA CHRYSOPTERA (Linn.) Plate V 



Distinguishing Characters. General color gray ; a yellow patch on the 

 wings; cheeks and throat black in the cf, gray in the ?. Length (skin), 4.30; 

 wing, 2.45; tail, 1. 90; bill, .46. 



Adult c?, Sfring. Crown yellow bordered by a white line above eye; 

 cheeks black; back gray sometimes tinged with olive-green; tail gray, the 

 outer three or four feathers with white patches on the inner vane : wings 

 externally gray, the inner feathers edged with olive-green, outer vane of greater 

 coverts largely yellow, median coverts broadly tipped with yellow, forming a 

 yellow wing-patch; throat and upper breast black bordered by a white line at 

 either side, rest of underparts grayish, white on the median line. 



Adult <$, Fall. Similar to the last but more or less washed with olive- 

 green above and with yellow below. 



Young d, Fall. Similar to adult c? in Fall but black throat-patch slightly 

 smaller and sometimes tipped with grayish, the chin white connecting the two 

 white stripes on either side of the throat. 



