BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 635 



b. Under tail-coverts buffy whitish or pale buff, without grayish brown or olive 

 base; superciliary stripe white, l)roader, and more sharply defined posteriorly; 

 under parts more sparsely streaked on a white or buffy white ground, the 

 streaks grayish brown. (Eastern United States, south in winter to West 

 Indies and through Mexico and Central America to Colombia. ) 



Seiurus motacilla (p. 639) 

 hb. Under tail-coverts yellowish white or pale yellow, with concealed portion 

 grayish brown or olive; superciliary stripe yellowish, narrower, and less 

 sharply defined posteriorly; under parts more thickly streaked on a yellow- 

 ish white or pale yellow ground, the streaks dark sooty brown or blackish. 

 {Seiurxis noveboracenm. ) 

 c. Smaller (averaging wing 76.9, exposed culmen 12.7, in adult male; wing 72.6, 

 culmen 12.7, in adult female); color of upper parts browner or more oliva- 

 ceous; under parts more decidedly yellowish. (Eastern North America, 

 chiefly toward Atlantic coast; south in winter to West Indies and along 

 Atlantic coast of Central America to Colombia, Venezuela, etc. ) 



Seiurns noveboraoensis noveboracensis (p. 642) 

 cc. Larger (averaging wing 77.3, exposed culmen 13.6, in adult male; wing 75.7, 

 exposed culmen 13.2, in adult female); color of upper parts darker and 

 more sooty, under parts less pronouncedly yellowish. (Western North 

 America, chiefly the interior; occasional in Atlantic States during migra- 

 tion; south in winter to Cape St. Lucas and through Mexico and Central 

 America to Colombia) Seiurus noveboraoensis notabilis (p. 645) 



SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS (Linnaeus). 



OVENBIRD. 



Adults {sexes alike). — Pileum with tvro narrow lateral stripes of black 

 inclosing a much broader median stripe of ochraceous, tawny- 

 ochraceous, or ochraceous-buff, the feathers of the latter more or less 

 tipped with pale olive, especially on occiput, which is sometimes uni- 

 form light olive or grayish olive; superciliary region (broadly) light 

 grayish olive, fading into a lighter hue of the same on auricular region; 

 rest of upper parts plain dull olive-green or greenish olive, the inner 

 webs of remiges and rectrices grayish bi'own (hair brown); a whitish 

 orbital ring; lores grayish white or dull whitish; malar region and 

 under parts white, the chest and sides heavily streaked with black, the 

 flanks more narrowly and less distinctly streaked; a dusky submalar 

 streak; axillars and under wing-coverts pale olive-yellow or dull sul- 

 phur j^ellow; maxilla dark brown, mandible much paler; iris brown; 

 legs and feet pale brown in dried skins, pale flesh color in life. 



(In winter similar to the spring and summer plumage but colors rather 

 brighter, and white of malar stripe and flanks sometimes tinged with 

 buff, though the latter may characterize young birds in their first year.) 



Young, Jirst plumage.— Pileum, hindneck, back, scapulars, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts dull wood brown or Isabella color, the first with 

 faint indications of two darker stripes, the back and scapulars with 

 indistinct darker streaks; wings and tail as in adults, but middle and 

 greater wing-coverts tipped or margined terminally with pale wood 



