PASSERINE BIRDS OF NEW YORK 239 



Vireo solitarius (Wils.). Blue-headed Vireo 



1. Natal Down. No specimen seen. 



2. Juvenal Plumage acquired by a complete postnatal moult. 



Above, drab, tinged with green, pileum and auriculars drab-gray. Wings and 

 tail clove-brown edged with olive-green, the tertiaries with white, two wing 

 bands at the tips of the median and greater coverts white, yellow tinged. The 

 outer rectrices partly white. Below, pure white, tinged on flanks and crissum 

 with primrose-yellow. Obscure superciliary stripe, loral and orbital regions 

 white ; a dusky anteorbital streak. Bill and feet pinkish buff, the former 

 becoming slaty, the latter plumbeous gray. 



3. First Winter Plumage acquired by a partial post- 

 juvenal moult in August which involves the body plumage and 

 the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings nor the tail. 

 Young and old become practically indistinguishable. 



Similar to the previous plumage but greener above and with a gray cap. Above, 

 olive-green (often mixed with gray), the pileum, nape, sides of head and tibije 

 slate-gray. Below, pure white, strongly washed on the sides and flanks with 

 olive-yellow mixed with gray. Lores and orbital region conspicuously white. 

 Orbital ring interrupted anteriorly by deep slate-gray. 



4. First Nuptial Plumage acquired by wear which pro- 

 duces little effect, the back becoming a shade grayer. 



5. Adult Winter Plumage acquired by a complete post- 

 nuptial moult. Practically indistinguishable from first winter 

 dress, the gray above clearer and where the orbital ring is inter- 

 rupted, darker. 



6. Adult Nuptial Plumage acquired by wear as in the 

 young bird. 



Female. — The female is apt to be duller especially in first 

 winter plumage, the head browner and with a buffy wash below ; 

 but many birds are indistinguishable from males. The moults 

 are identical. 



Vireo solitarius plumbeus (Coues.). Plumbeous Vireo 



This remarkably distinct subspecies, characterized by extreme 

 paleness in all plumages, enjoys the same sequence of plumages 

 and of moults as V. solitarius. In northern Mexico and in Ari- 



