The Alaska Myrtle Warbler 



reduced or wanting. Length of adult males (skins): 114.3 (4.50); wing 65.2 (2.57); 

 tail 51. 1 (2.01); bill 9.4 (.37); tarsus 18.7 (.74). Females very slightly smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Medium warbler size; black throat and sides abruptly 

 contrasting with white of breast and belly, distinctive for male. Female an obscure 

 olivaceous bird, best known by white blotch near edge of wing. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: Of bark-strips, twigs and 

 grasses; lined with fine rootlets and horsehair; placed in low bushes near ground. Eggs: 

 4 or 5; dull white, spotted with dull reddish brown and vinaceous gray. Av. size, 

 16.5 x 12.7 (.65 x .50). 



General Range. — Eastern North America. Breeds in northern portion of 

 United States from Minnesota to Rhode Island, and centrally in Ontario and Quebec; 

 winters in the West Indies and casually west to Central America and Colombia; in 

 migrations casually west to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. 



Occurrence in California. — Accidental; one record: Farallons, Nov. 17, 1886. 



Authority. — W. E. Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2nd ser., i., 1888, p. 48 

 (Farallon Ids., Nov. 17, 1886, one spec). 



A SOLITARY example of this strictly eastern species was taken by 

 W. E. Bryant on the Farallon Islands in November, 1886. The specimen 

 was destroyed in the great San Francisco fire. 



No. 86 



Alaska Myrtle Warbler 



A. O. U. No. 655, part. Dendroica coronata hooveri McGregor. 



Synonyms. — Hoover's Warbler. Western Myrtle Warbler. 



Description. — Adult male in spring: Crown (centrally), rump (narrowly), 

 and a large spot on each side of the breast, pure yellow (lemon yellow) ; the tint of the 

 crown-patch slightly "richer" (lemon-chrome); general color of upperparts blue-gray 

 (deep green-blue gray), heavily streaked with black (or else black with heavy edgings 

 of blue-gray), the black streaks narrow on pileum, and broad on notaeum and scapulars; 

 wings black, the tips of the greater and middle coverts white, forming two conspicuous 

 bars; the lesser wing-coverts and outer edges of flight-feathers brownish, and often 

 more or less brownish gray across middle portion of back; tail black with white blotches 

 on inner webs of outer tail-feathers, successively decreasing in area, and vanishing on 

 the 4th or 5th pair; cheeks and lores black; a dab of white above lores; another on lower 

 eyelid; and a white streak over auriculars; throat pure white; breast and sides black, 

 with much admixture of white present as edging, the black thus roughly defining the 

 yellow, and persisting on sides and flanks as streaks; remaining underparts, including 

 lining of wing, white. Bill black; iris brown; feet and legs dark brown. Adult male 

 in autumn and winter: "Very different from the summer plumage; above grayish 

 brown, with black streaks concealed except on back and scapulars, where much less 

 conspicuous than in summer plumage; yellow crown-patch concealed by brown tips 

 to the feathers; sides of head brown, like pileum, varied by the same white markings as 

 in summer plumage, but these less distinct; chin, throat, and chest brownish white or 



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