The Orange-crowned Warblers 



No. 79a Luteoline Warbler 



A. O. U. No. 646a, part. Vermivora celata orestera Oberholser. 



Note. — In his original description of this form (Auk, xxii., July, 1905, pp. 

 243-245), Oberholser did not assign a vernacular name, and I propose the more dis- 

 tinctive term Luteoline (from the Latin luteolus, yellowish), in place of the cumbrous 

 "Rocky Mountain Orange-crowned Warbler" used by Grinnell and others. The name 

 has not only the advantage of accuracy, but of family resemblance to the related 

 form, V. c. lutescens. The word lutescens, by the way, although understood to mean 

 "becoming yellow," is probably derived from lutum, mud, luteus, muddy, instead of 

 lutum, or luteum, yellow weed. Hence, lutescens means" becoming muddy," a term 

 rather more applicable to sordida than to the Lutescent Warbler. But, anyway, all 

 the celatas are muddy yellow, and the names will stick on either count. 



Description. — Described by Oberholser as an intermediate type, larger and 

 more yellow than V. c. celata, duller, less yellow, and also larger than V. c. lutescens. 

 Measurements of males (Oberholser): wing 63.5 (2.50); tail 50.5 (1.99); bill 10.2 (.40); 

 tarsus 18.3 (.72). 



Nesting. — Much as in next form. 



Range of V. c. orestera. — The Rocky Mountain and intra-mountain areas, 

 breeding from New Mexico and Arizona (Mt. Graham) west to eastern California, 

 and north to the mountains of eastern British Columbia and western Alberta; prob- 

 ably passes entirely south of the United States in winter. 



Distribution in California. — Definitely recorded in summer only from the 

 Panamint and Argus Ranges, and the White Mountains of eastern California. Other 

 east-side birds are apparently intergrades between orestera and lutescens. 



Authorities. — Oberholser, Auk, vol. xxii., 1905, p. 243 (orig. desc. ; specimens 

 from the Argus Range, Panamint Mts., and Olancha Peak); Grinnell, Pac. Coast 

 Avifauna, no. II, 1915, p. 146, in text (status in Calif.); ibid., Condor, vol. xxi., 1919, 

 p. 42. 



IMMIGRANT children sometimes arrive at Ellis Island with their 

 names and destinations pinned conspicuously upon their breasts. It is 

 not altogether otherwise with our migrant birds, for by closely examining 

 their marks of identification we may tell where they hail from and whither 

 they are bound. The subtle differences between V. celata and V. celata 

 lutescens may not interest the general public, but by these marks we 

 know that the Orange-crowned Warblers, which are found in winter 

 in southern California, and especially in the Colorado River Valley, 

 hail from Alberta and Alaska, east of the Rockies; whereas our own 

 Lutescents, as common as grass throughout the State in summer, absent 

 themselves altogether in winter. 



No. 79b Lutescent Warbler 



A. O.-U. No. 646a. Vermivora celata lutescens (Ridgway). 



Description. — Similar to V. c. celata, but brighter and more yellow throughout; 

 upperparts bright warbler green; underparts between pyrite yellow and lemon yellow. 

 Young said to be considerably different, — more olive greenish; abdomen yellow, not 

 white. Length: wing 59.8 (2.35): tail 47 (1.85): bill 9.9 (.39); tarsus 17.6 (.70). 



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