ROCKY MOUNTAIN ORANGE-CROWN 89 



Very little appears to have been written about the habits of this 

 form of the Orange-crown in its summer home. Near Carberry, 

 Manitoba, Seton 2 says it is a common summer resident in the wooded 

 sections, "moving about continually among the topmost twigs of the 

 trees and uttering its little ditty about once every half minute." About 

 the Great Slave Lake, Kennicott (B. B. & R., I., 204) found the bird 

 nesting among clumps of low bushes. In northern Alaska, Nelson 1 

 states that the Orange-crown is a common summer resident of wooded 

 regions, straggling southward as an autumn migrant to the shores 

 of Behring Sea and Kotzebue Sound. 



Song. — "Its song is much like that of the Chipping Sparrow, but 

 more musical and in a higher key." (Seton.) 



"Their song, only heard during the mating and breeding season, 

 is a simple lay — a few sweet trills uttered in a spirited manner, and 

 abruptly ending on a rising scale." (Goss, Birds of Kansas.) 



"The only note heard is a sharp, persistent, chipping, many times 

 repeated, as the bird moves about the tree, often moving its wings 

 restlessly, like a Kinglet." (Allison, MS.) 



"The song is full and strong, not very high pitched, and ends 

 abruptly on a rising scale. My note book renders it chee chee chee 

 ckuf chaf. The first three syllables rapidly uttered, the last two more 

 slowly. One heard late in the season sang more nearly like Mr. 

 Thompson's description: chip-e, chip-e, chip-e, chip-e, chip-e, but with 

 the first vowel changed to e, thus eliminating what would appear 

 to be a marked similarity to the song of Chippy. Even in this song 

 the ending is retained." (Jones.) 



Eggs. — "Average size .64x46, white or creamy white, finely 

 specked chiefly on the larger end with reddish or chestnut brown." 

 (Davie.) 



The eggs undoubtedly closely resemble those of the Lutescent 

 Warbler. 



Biographical References 



(1) E. W. Nelson, Report on Natural History Collections made in 

 Alaska, 200. (2) Ernest Thompson Seton, Birds of Manitoba, Proc. U. S. 

 N. M., 1891, 616. (3) Wm. Brewster, Birds of the Cambridge Region, 324. 



Rocky Mountain Orange-crown 



HELMINTHOPHILA CELATA ORESTERA (Ober.) 



Subspecific Characters.— Intermediate in color between Helminthophila 

 celata celata and H. c. lutescens; yellower than former, not so yellow as the 

 latter; in size larger than lutescens, and virtually agreeing with celata. 



