The Orange-crowned Warblers 



whether to indulge a chuckle at the expense of those early heroes, or to 

 concede that the bird has enormously increased. 



No. 79 



Orange-crowned Warbler 



A. 0. U. No. 646. Vermivora celata celata (Say). 



Description. — Adult male: Above warbler green over grayish olive, — brighter, 

 clearer yellow, on rump and upper tail-coverts; duller, more grayish, on crown and hind- 

 neck; a crown-patch of "orange" (sudan brown) feathers more or less concealed by 

 olive tips; wings and tail fuscous with greenish skirtings, the outermost primaries 

 edged with white; eyelids whitish or yellowish, separated both anteriorly and pos- 

 teriorly by wedges of dusky; underparts yellow, often with streaky irruptions of pale 

 olive-gray (the resultant blend nearly pyrite yellow) ; the yellow clearest on axillaries, 

 wing-linings, and under tail-coverts; dullest and grayest on throat and sides of neck. 

 Bill and feet horn-color. In fall and winter, plumage "softer"; crown-patch con- 

 cealed or wanting. Adult female: Similar to male, but possibly duller, with crown- 

 patch restricted or wanting. Young, first plumage: "Above dull olive, or grayish 

 olive, becoming more olive greenish or russet olive on rump and upper tail-coverts; 

 middle and greater wing-coverts tipped, more or less distinctly, with pale olive or dull 

 buffy; throat, chest, sides of breast, sides, and flanks pale brownish gray, tinged with 

 dull buffy, especially on chest; abdomen white; otherwise like adults, but without 

 trace of tawny-ochraceous on crown" (Ridgway). Length of adult male (skins) about 

 117 (4.61); wing 61.4 (2.42); tail 49.2 (1.94); bill 9.8 (.386); tarsus 17.7 (.70). 



Recognition Marks. — Warbler size; warbler green above, yellow below; blend- 

 ed pattern of color difficult to distinguish from the rare Tennessee Warbler (V. pere- 

 grini). Larger and much duller yellow than the Pileolated Warblers (Wilsonia pile- 

 olata group) ; duller, more olivaceous, than the Dendroica astiva group. Orange 

 crown-patch, of course, distinctive of species. Duller than V. c. lutescens; lighter than 

 V. c. sordida. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. For description see under V. c- 

 lutescens. 



Range of Vermivora celata. — North America, breeding in the mountainous 

 states of the West and in British America; wintering in southern United States, 

 south to Guatemala. 



Range of T". c. celata. — Breeding in Canada centrally and northwesterly and in 

 Alaska to the limit of trees. Apparently rare as a breeder anywhere east of the long- 

 itude of Hudson Bay; migrates chiefly through the Mississippi Valley and eastward 

 in diminishing numbers to the Atlantic seaboard; winters in the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf States, the southwestern states and in Mexico. 



Occurrence in California. — Not common winter resident in southern Cali- 

 fornia; many records; migrant elsewhere. 



Authorities. — Swarth (Helminthophila celata), Condor, vol. iii., 1901, pp. 

 17, 145 (Los Angeles); Coues, Birds Col. Val., 1878, p. 226 (desc, nest, eggs, etc.); 

 Oberholser, Auk, vol. xxii., 1905, p. 242 (distr., desc, crit.) ; Grinnell, Univ. Calif. Pub. 

 Zool., vol. xii., 1914, p. 194 (Colorado Valley). 



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