BREWSTER: BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 189 
of the bill dark horn colored instead of black. The black mask is wholly 
unmixed with any lighter color. 
Male in first winter plumage. Differing from the adult only in having 
the feathers of the black mask slightly tipped with grayish or yellowish, 
especially on the forehead ; the yellow border of the mask more restricted and 
mixed with brownish ; the breast and under tail coverts tinged with brownish 
saffron; the flanks and sides rich purplish cinnamon. 
Adult female in autumn. Differing from the spring female only in being 
slightly grayer above. een 
Female in first winter plumage. Differing from the adult female in autumn 
only in having the upper parts tinged with reddish brown, the throat and 
breast with brownish saffron, the flanks and sides, as well as the anal region, 
with cinnamon. 
Indwwidual variations : — The width of the black mask where it crosses the 
forehead varies considerably in different specimens, being in some birds fully 
twice as wide as itis in others. There is quite as much diversity in this re- 
spect among young as with mature birds. One or two males have the entire 
occiput and nape mixed with concealed yellow. In about ten per cent of the 
autumnal males, both adults and young, the black of the forehead extends 
much further back on the left than on the right side of the head. In the 
most extreme specimens the posterior border of the black band crosses the 
top of the head obliquely, in a nearly straight line, from a little in front of 
the right eye to a little behind the left eye. In all cases, however, the black 
on the sides of the head passes completely around both eyes. At first I was 
inclined to believe that this remarkable variation was due to unevenness of 
manipulation on the part of the taxidermist in drawing the skin back over the 
skull, but careful examination of numerous specimens has convinced me, as 
well as several others who have looked at the birds, that they present a clear 
and very interesting case of asymmetry. 
This beautiful species was discovered by Mr. Belding (in 1882) in the Cape 
Region, where it was “common in the few suitable localities around San 
José, Miraflores, and cafons of the Miraflores and Santiago Peaks. At Agua 
Caliente a pair were noticed feeding their young just out of the nest, May 7. 
The only note traced to this species was a loud chip. . . . Their habits are 
quite like those of G. trichas, and the eggs are not materially different, if a nest 
found by my guide on the Miraflores and Todos Santos trail May 6 belonged 
to this species, as I supposed it did, having seen a fine male near the spot 
from which it was taken.” e 
Mr. Frazar saw his first Belding’s Yellow-throat on April 21 at Triunfo, in 
a small, deep arroyo where the stream had been dammed for irrigating pur- 
poses, making a little pool of water around which grew a quantity of canes 
and rank grasses, the whole covering an area of about forty yards square. 
Here were found three pairs, the females of which were apparently incubating, 
although no nests were discovered. The species was next met with at San 
José del Cabo, where it proved to be one of the most abundant birds. It was 
