590 OHIO BIRDS. 



thophaga pinua, although in the concealed black of vertex and auriculars it slightly 

 resembles certain plumages of Oporornisformoaa. From S.pinus, its nearest ally it differs 

 in its decidedly larger size, the presence of riotal bristles, the concealed black of vertex 

 and the black auriculars ; negatively, in the total absence of white wing bars, white tail 

 ilotchea, and ashy blue on wings and tail. With 0. formosa it seems hardly necessary to 

 compare it ; its smaller size, dissimilar proportions, short tarsi, yellow forehead, and 

 white margin to outer tail feathers, sufficiently distinguish it from that species. A 

 suspicion of hybridism between the two g«nera is, in the present state of our knowledge, 

 inadmissible. 



" Of its habits nothing is knowc except that it was shot while searching for insects 

 at the end of a maple limb about fifty feet from the ground. 



" It is a little remarkable that this should be the third new species of this genus 

 announced from the eastern United States during the past six years ; such, however, is 

 the fact, and in all three instances the discovery has been made in an already thoroughly 

 explored section. Whether this has any significance as indicating a special tendency of 

 the genus to differentiation on account of changes in its environment, or is merely a 

 coincidence, is of course problematical ; the question of an extension of range from some 

 heretofore unexplored habitat would also come in here for consideration." 



Mr. Ridway (1. c.) expresses his views in regard to its validity and re- 

 lations to other species as follows : 



"Having had, through Dr. Cones' courtesy, the pleasure of examining the type speci- 

 men of Mr. Langdon's new Selminthophaga, recently described in the Journal of the Cin- 

 cinnati Society of Natural History, July, 1880, I feel constrained to offer a few remarks 

 concerning it, as an expression of my own views regarding its validity as a species. At 

 first sight, the bird impresses one with its unique coloration, which on further examina- 

 tion is found to be a perfect combination of the plumage of Selminthophaga pinus and 

 Oporornis formosa. The wings and tail are plain-colored, as in the latter, but the wings 

 show a faint suggestion of the wing-bands of the former, in the pale olivaceous tips to 

 the middle and greater coverts. The forehead is yellow, as in S. pinus, but behind and 

 along the postero-lateral edge of this yellow is seen a portion of the black cap which 

 characterizes 0. formosa. The black markings of the side of the head are intermediate in 

 extent between the narrow and postocular streak of the Selminthophaga, and the broader 

 loral patch with suborbital continuation, as seen in the Oporornis. In form, the bird is 

 as nearly intermediate between the two as could well be imagined, the bill inclining 

 more to that of Oporornis in size and shape, the feet more like those of Selminthophaga. 

 The bird may eventually prove to be a distinct species ; but it certainly suggests a hybrid 

 between those named aboved, with quite as good (in fact exactly the same) reason as 

 that between Sirundo eryihrogastra and PeirooheUdon lunifrons, recorded in a former num- 

 ber of the Bulletin (Vol. Ill, pp. 135, 136). This view of the matter is strengthened by 

 the circumstance that in many, if not most, parts of the Mississippi Valley, especially in 

 the latitude of Cincinnati, the two species bred very abundantly in the same localities, 

 both nesting on the ground, and often having their nests situated only a few feet apart." 



242, Selminthophaga pinui, Dury and Freeman, Obs., Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist,, ii, 



1879, 101. 



243. Selminthophaga ohrysoptera, Dury and Freeman, Obs., Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist,, 



ii, 1879, 101,— Langdon, Field Notes, ib., iii, 1880, 122. 



