DESCRIPTIVE LIST 279 



late in April, as a rule, though we have it recorded one year from Weaverville as 

 early as April 9. It has also been reported from Jackson and Macon counties, by 

 Brewster, as being common in 1885 at from 2,000 to 4,000 feet elevation, and from 

 Andrews, in Cherokee County, by Mrs. Wilson. Cairns states that in Buncombe 

 County it is found in summer from 3,500 feet elevation upward, and that it breeds 

 in June. The nest is built on the ground under a small bush or tussock. The eggs 

 are usually four, pure white, sparsely speckled with brown. 



FIG. 225. GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER. 



Besides the above records, Sherman saw a single male at Blantyre, Transylvania 

 County, early in May, 1908, and another, near Highlands, a few days later. 



A single specimen of the so-called Brewster's Warbler, Vermivora leucobronchialis (Brewst.), 

 was taken at Raleigh by H. H. Brimley on September 6, 1888, and was identified by Brewster. 

 The color was a mixed greenish and bluish above, the rump, however, being without any bluish 

 tint; the loral strip was black, and there were black traces on the auriculars; underparts mostly 

 white except the forepart of the breast, which was mostly yellow; throat and neck below white, 

 chin yellow. Crown, forehead, and wing-bars bright yellow. 



This form, which is not infrequently found in the Connecticut Valley in summer, and less 

 often in other portions of the Eastern States, is now considered by many ornithologists to be a 

 hybrid between the Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers, or possibly a color-phase of the 

 Blue-winged Warbler. 



Besides this form, which may be considered as a Golden-winged Warbler that has lost its 

 black throat and ear-patches and acquired a little more yellow in its plumage, or as a Blue-winged 

 Warbler with the olive-green of the upperparts turned to ashy and the yellow of the underparts 

 turned to white, another extraordinary variety is also considered to be a hybrid between the same 

 two species. This is Lawrence's Warbler, Vermivora lawrencei (Herrick), which is colored like a 

 Blue-winged Warbler above and below, but possesses a black throat and ear-patch like the Golden- 

 winged Warbler, and the wing-bars are said to be usually white. It is a very much rarer bird 

 than the Brewster's Warbler, and much more constant in its characters. It has not, to our 

 knowledge, been observed in North Carolina. 



279. Vermivora rubricapilla rubricapilla (Wils.'). NASHVILLE WARBLER. 



Description. Olive-green, ashy on head and neck, the color contrasting with that of back; 

 crown-patch bright chestnut, more or less concealed; underparts bright yellow. Lores and 

 orbital ring pale. Female duller, with crown-patch obscure. L., 4.77; W., 2.35; T., 1.82. 



Range. Eastern North America, breeding in northern United States and northward, wintering 

 in Mexico and Central America. 



Range in North Carolina. Recorded by Cairns as a rare transient in Buncombe County. 



