Mearns’s Description of Unusually Developed Species. 71 
head is very much broadened, and the black of the chin much lightened. 
The top of the head and neck has an ochraceous suffusion, and the cinna- 
mon-color of the back extends into, and partially subdues the ash of the 
rump. 
4. Helminthophaga peregrina, (Wilson) Cabanis. Tennessee War- 
bler. — I have a curious albinistic variety of this species (No. 92 
May, 1874, E. A. M.). It was shot among the blossoms of a plum-tree, 
where it was seen skipping about in the liveliest manner. Its head is 
pure white, except a very slight sulphury suffusion on the crown ; the 
residue of the plumage is much lightened, and with occasional patches of 
sulphury- white feathers on the back. 
5. Dendrceca pennsylvanica, (Linne) Baird. Chestnut-sided War- 
bler. — A spring female of this species (No. 1437 May 19, 1877, 
E. A. M.) seems to have passed by its spring moult, since it is still in the 
autumnal plumage, except for the appearance of a few black streaks on 
the back. The plumage is worn and dingy, and exhibits no trace of the 
chestnut side-stripe. 
6. Corvus americanus, Audubon. Common Crow. • — There is a 
peculiarity of the plumage of the Crow, which I have noticed in a num- 
ber of specimens shot durMg the breeding season, in May. All specimens 
shot at this season do not exhibit this peculiarity, and some show it in 
a more marked degree than others. These specimens are characterized by 
the entire absence of the violet gloss on the wings and tail, those parts 
being of a lustreless, purplish-brown color. Some specimens have the 
concealed bases of the feathers of a fine, violet-glossed black, and the 
residue of a rich bronze hue. 
My attention was first attracted to this state of plumage by two birds 
which I shot in the very act of devouring the eggs of the Night Herons, 
in the heronry on Constitution Island, in the Hudson River, on the 23d 
of May, 1877. These birds were extreme examples. This condition of 
plumage may not be limited to the breeding season, for I have a specimen 
shot in winter, which has one of the rectrices of a rich, purplish bronze- 
color ; but I found this plumage prevailing in the greater number of speci- 
mens shot during the last week in May. 
7. Ficus pubescens, Linne. Downy Woodpecker. — A female of 
this species (No. 449 9? February 26, 1875, E. A. M.) presents a very un- 
usual appearance. It still retains a number of red feathers on both sides 
of the nape. The red feathers on the crown are said to be characteristic 
of the young female. It is interesting to know that the red feathers are 
retained so late in the season. The red patches on the nape w T ere so con- 
spicuous in the living bird as to cause it to be shot. 
8. Myiodioctes mitratus, (Gmelin) Audubon. Hooded Warbler. — 
Mr. C. Hart Merriam, in his late “Review of the Birds of Connecticut” 
(pp. 25 and 29), rectifies an error in the recent descriptions of the females 
of this species. I wish to add my testimony to his conclusions, “ that the 
