Helininthophlla leucobronchialls . 



The Coloration and Relationships of Brewster's Warbler. — Brew- 

 Warbler { HelmintJiofhila leiicobronchialis ) is invariably described 



I---'- ' less stronglj washed with 3'ellow ; this 



lum, but still always present, in so-called 



ste 



as having a white breast 

 tinge being reduced to the 

 typical examples. 



I hope to prove that in pure plumage this bird has th( 

 absolutely white, and that the slightest trace of yellow i 

 feathers brands a specimen as intermediate between leucob 

 films. It is well known that these extremes are conni 

 cJiain of intermediates, and that the frequency of occurre 

 mediates is, if we count them all as leucobronchialis, i 

 the purity of their coloring. (A fact, by the 

 to the belief that leucobronchialis is a mere 



Whitish-breasted and 



under parts 

 the breast- 

 onchialis and 

 ;cted by a perfect 

 ice of these inter- 

 1 inverse ratio to 

 •ay, which points strongly 

 is a mere variation of pimis.) 

 more or less golden-winged examples ot pinies are, 

 mparatively speaking, not rare, but the leucobronchialis end of the grada- 

 ■epresented by specimens — so meagerly, in fact, that 

 apparently failed to get a clear idea of what it really is. 

 n is from a bright-yellow-breasted, green-backed, 



~ r ...^ ..wasted, gray-backed bird, the assumption that it 



ertainly stops short of attainment of the latter extreme would be 

 specimens to contradict it. There is, how- 

 which I shot at 

 „ , which is now in the 

 ;ollection, has all the white of the 

 pure and ashy, and the gray of the back as clea 

 against the yellow crown, as the best exampl 

 course a discrimination between pure white anc 

 white can only be made by experts, and it was as 

 and I, both of us artists, examined this specimen 

 this very point. When the bird was fresh, th 

 yellow in its breast, on or below the 

 purity of coloring has been marred by 

 The breast was torn in skinning, and g 



tion is meagerly : 

 ornithologists hav 

 Now since this gradatic 

 toward a ■piire-iuliite-br. 



s jusl 



absurd, even if thei 



ever, at least one such specimen. A Brewster's Warbl 

 Beltsville, Maryland, in May several years ago, 



Smithi 



u- and 

 ; of H. 



surface exactly as 

 IS sharply defined 

 cbrysoptera. Of 

 very slightly tinged 

 experts that my father 

 with a view to testing 

 iS no slightest trace of 

 lurface of the feathers; but this 

 a most unfortunate accident, 

 e has exuded on to the feathers. 



The Auk' for October, 1910 (XXVII, 

 a article by Julia Wingate Sherman on 

 ,re numerous inaccuracies in the account 

 , and correct them as far as possible. 



Warbler about Boston dates from 1907. 

 n the Arnold Arboretum by Miss Helen 

 ^uk, XXIV, 1907, p. 343), and was sub- 

 1, Auk, XXIV, 1907, p. 444) with a female 

 ferring to this pair, writes: " Mr. [C. J.] 



drawing of the female and young, which 

 male showed an extensive, nearly black 



patch in the wing." 



rater's was seen on May 13 (Peters, Auk, 

 ace as the year before. On June 8 I found 

 ,ie spot where the pair was located in 1907. 



five naked young. About the same time 

 r. George Nelson of the Agassiz Museum 

 the Museum. There can be no doubt that 

 aale Helminthophila leucobronchialis and a 



birds were seen about the nest. About 

 the young disappeared, just how will never 



arance ot the young birds a nest was found 

 red by Mrs. Sherman and others who did 

 t of leucobronchialis. So far as I am aware 

 ship of the nest was based entirely upon the 

 hich was described in ' The Auk ' by Mrs. 

 dusky throat-patch, not clearly defined at 



pale gray of the upper breast The black 



!r and extended back farther than did that on 

 g year. She differed also in showing two 

 escription applies perfectly to the female 

 s a male of this species singing not far from 

 t all unlikely that he was the owner and not 

 ght be led to beheve. 



5ht male chrysoplera was the only bird to be 

 jmale was seen or nest found in either year, 

 c, pp. 444, 445) a pair of Goldenwings which 

 he male was a typical chrysoptera] the female, 

 leucobronchialis, had much the same plumage 

 ibed (see above), but differed in hailing " the 

 I color. It bore the same character in being 

 td directly under the bill. The one in 1908 

 3h, mottled sUghtly in appearance. The black 

 ■rower and paled on a pale gray cheek. The 

 uniform in width .... The white hue below the 

 eye was shorter. The whole tone of the back was more ohvaceous. Two 

 bright yellow wing-bars divided by an ohve or dark band on the wmg. 

 The entire underparts were washed with yellow which showed quite bright 

 on the middle of the breast in a good hght. The crown was bright dande- 

 hon yellow running into bronzy yellow on the back of the head." 



This description seems to be a rather good one of a female Helminthophila 

 chrysoplera in very high plumage. ^ 



It has always been beheved that the females in the Arboretum m 1907 

 and 1908 were chrysoplera, and I see no reason why either of these birds 

 or the one in RosUndale should ever be regarded as anything else_^— James 

 L. Peteks, Jamaica Plain, Mass. ^ y^^m-^ ff/^ /^•:i70 'J7/. 



