254 CHARACTERS OP DENDROECA ESTIVA 



a'so from America, and supposed to inhabit this ooantry. Examine, for instance, Mota- 

 cilia trochilus 0, acredula, L. SN. i. 338, n. 49 0; Sylvia troohilua, 0. Lath. 10. ii. 5150, n. 155 

 ; Sylvia acredula, Steph. Gen. Zool. x. 744 ; in all of which places Catesby's pi. 63 and 

 Edwards's pi. 278, f. 2, are cited, and the bird is ascribed to North Ameiica. Yieillot dis- 

 cusses this matter in connection with a bird described by him as the " Fauvette naine ". 

 Sylvia pnmilla, OAS. ii. pi. 100, or the "Pouillot nain ", S. pwmUia, TS. D. d'H. N. xi. 239, 

 where it is referred to trochilus var. of Lath., and Ency. M6th. ii. 467, where the female is 

 said to be figured by Edwards, pi. 278, f. 2, and where reference is made to the " Figuier 

 bran et jaune " of Bufibn, v. 295; but I cannot make out what his pumilia is, nor has any 

 one identified it, so far as I Itnow. The whole matter hinges on Edw. pi. 278, f. 2 ; and as 

 this is not recognizable, the case is dubious, probably beyond determination. It is unne- 

 cessary to add that no such bird occurs in this country ; but so much of the composition of 

 the species as includes American references is doabtless more or less excluslTcIy pertinent 

 to Dendrceca ceativa. The ascribing of the Willow Wren to this conntry Lasted until 

 within thirty or forty years, such species being given for instance in Nuttall's work of 

 1832 and Peabody's of 1839. — Boddaert has a MntaciUa canadensis, which is this species, 

 being based upon PE. 58, f. 2 ; but the name is twice anticipated by Motacilla canadensis 

 of Linnaeus, for two different species of the same genus.] 



Oh. sp. — i Flava, dorso flavo-virente, gastrwo aurantio-brun- 

 neo striata; remigibus rectricibusque fuscis, extus et intus flavo- 

 Imbatis; rostro plumbeo; 9 et juv. infra innotata. 



g , adult : Golden-yellow ; the back with a greenish tinge resulting io rich 

 yellow-olive, the rump more j ellowish ; the middle of the back sometimes 

 obsoletely streaked with darker. Crown like the under parts, in high plnm- 

 age often tinged with orange-brown. Breast and sides, and sometimes moat 

 of the under parts, streaked with orange-brown. Quills and tail-feathera 

 dusky, edged on both webs with yellow, the yellow occupying most of the 

 inner webs of the tail-feathers. Bill plumbeous. Feet pale brown. Length, 

 4|-5 ; extent, 7i^-7f ; wing, SJ; tail, 2. 



9 , adult : Like the $ ; yellow-olive of upper parts extending on the crown ; 

 streaks below obsolete or entirely wanting. General coloration paler than 

 in the $. 



Young : Like the 2 , but still more dully colored. Upper parts, including 

 crown, pale olive, with an ochroy instead of clear yellow shade ; below oehrey- 

 white or dull pale yellowish. Edgings of wings and tail dull yellowish. 



I have not seen, perhaps, the very youngest stage of this species ; at any 

 rate, I have seen no streaked specimens. The fledglings of comparatively 

 few of our Warblers, even the commonest, have been described. But as far 

 as known, all, with probably the exception of the present species, are 

 streaked or spotted at first like very young Thrushes. 



The North American Golden Warbler is well distinguished from its several 

 West Indian and South American allies. It appears to be somewhat the 

 smallest, with shortest tarsus — scarcely two-thirds of au inch. In the $ of 

 D. vieilloti, the head all around is orange-brown ; and, in D. eapitalis, of the 

 Barbadoes, the whole crown is of this color, sharply defined. D. petechia, of 

 various West Indian Islands, is most nearly related ; it is larger ; the tarsi 

 are longer ; the win;; is more rounded ; the yellow-olive of the back extends 

 with little more mixture of yellow on the nape, rump, and wing marginings: 

 the yellow edgings of the tail are narrower. In any plumage, D. wstiva in 

 distinguished from all the other North American species by the yellow edging 

 instead of white blotching of the tail-feathers. 



