I 
PLUMAGES OF THE YOUNG HOODED WARBLER. 
BY WILLIAM PALMER. 
Several young male Hooded Warblers ( .Sylvania mitrata ) 
collected by myself in Hanover County, Virginia, in July, 1S93, 
differed so much from published descriptions that I called 
attention to them in a paper read at the Washington meeting 
of the A. O. U. of that year. Hoping to secure a better series, 
Oil LIIC LUIOlll. rTLjjpti 1 cnn^y uic inaic uua optuto uulo auaiu 
the full plumage until the third year.” 
Dr. J. M. Wheaton (Report on the Birds of Ohio, 1882, 
p. 279) describes a young male taken at Columbus, Ohio, 
August 25, 1874, as follows: “Above, yellow-olive, concealed 
yellow from bill to eyes ; feathers of crown and occiput with dark 
plumbeous bases and centers, some of the feathers of sides of 
crown with scarcely concealed black tips, line from bill 
over and around eye bright lemon yellow, separated from the 
uniform yellow of throat, breast, and abdomen, by dusky lores 
and olive-yellow auriculars ; under tail coverts very light yellow. 
Tail spots as in the adult. Bill very pale, dusky shaded.” 
This description agrees in some respects with Professor Baird’s 
specimen mentioned above, obtained by him at Carlisle, Pa., 
May 7, 1845, and labeled as a male by the collector. I have no 
hesitation whatever in calling Dr. Wheaton’s bird a young female of 
the year, and Professor Baird’s- specimen a female at least two 
years old : the error of sexing having been caused by the fact that 
the supra -renal capsules were mistaken for testes. Unfortunately 
this error is only too easily possible when birds are left for some 
time before skinning or when injured internally. 
