156 



Allen and Brewster on Colorado Bh'ds. [J"Iy 



beneath confined to the tail-coverts and an isolated patch on the breast or 

 jugulum. With the specimens before me, however, this is the exception 

 rather than the rule. In the majority the yellow extends uninterruptedly 

 from the breast to the chin, paling anteriorly until it fades into white near 

 the base of the lower mandible. In a few examples it is nearly as bright 

 on the throat as over the middle of the jugulum. In one very highlj^-col- 

 ored bird a narrow ashy collar passes across the jugulum separating the 

 yellow into two distinct patches, one of which occupies the throat, the 

 other the upper portion of the breast and the lower part of the jugulum. 

 This bird is peculiar also in having the orbital ring strongly tinged with 

 yellow. 



Mr. Ridgway says* that the chestnut patch on the crown "is obsolete 

 in the female"; Dr. Coues, that it is present but "more restricted than in 

 the (J."t The latter statement is the more nearly correct, for among the 

 twelve females that I have examined not one has the crown entirely plain, 

 although with a few the chestnut is pale and restricted to the central feath- 

 ers. In the fully adult bird it is not less deep and extended than with 

 average males, and the yellow of the breast and uiider tail-coverts is some- 

 times quite as rich as in some of the duller males. The latter, however, 

 can be usually if not always distinguished b}' the darker ash of the head 

 and the brighter yellow of the rump. 



The crown-patch of the male varies little in color or extent, but it may 

 be nearly or quite concealed, or conspicuously exposed, according to the 

 condition of the plumage. The feathers of the crown, when fresh, are 

 tipped with ashy, so that when each is in its proper place the chestnut be- 

 neath is perfectly covered. With the advance of the season, however, the 

 ashy tips rapidly wear away, and with birds taken after the middle of May 

 the crown-patch is a conspicuous feature. It may be always seen by dis- 

 arranging the feathers. 



34. Helminthophila celata. Golden-crowned War- 

 bler. — First met with April 38. A few were seen almost daily 

 till late in May. 



Among a fairly extensive series of Orange-crowned Warblers I find two 

 well-characterized and readily separable races, one a dark greenish-olive 

 bird coming from Florida and Georgia, the other a bright yellowish form, 

 the extreme of which is i-epresented by specimens from California. The 

 latter, it is perhaps needless to say, is variety Ititescens, supposed to be re- 

 stricted to the Pacific Slope. 



Specimens from Texas and Minnesota are paler and less yellowish 

 than California ones, but on the whole more nearly like them than 

 they are like the Florida examples. Still closer to lutescens are my 

 Arizona and Colorado representatives, several of which are so nearlj' 

 identical with even the brighter California birds that it is practically 

 impossible to distinguish them. The general evidence of this series 

 shows a barely appreciable paling of the yellow in the Colorado and 



* North Am. Birds, Vol. I, p. 199. 

 t Birds Col. Val., Vol. I, p. 221. 



