Vol. XIVJ 
1897 J 
Dwight, The Philadelphia Vireo. 
269 
hidden himself from the world for so many years. He is to 
be expected and should be looked for as a regular summer 
resident in many of the wilder regions of Canada. 
Plumage and Moult. 
1 here yet remains something to be said regarding the plumage 
and moult of the birds. On the accompanying plate is figured an 
adult male Vireo philadelphicus in breeding dress, contrasted with 
J v eo gilvus, the species it most resembles in plumage. It may be 
seen at a glance how much yellower philadelphicus is, a difference 
that holds in all plumages and at all seasons of the year. A 
more distinctive character, however, than color is found in the 
shoit first primary of gilvus, which is abortive and practically 
absent in philadelphicus , the former, therefore, having by actual 
count ten primaries, the latter apparently only nine. V. phila- 
delphicus in the spring is distinctly washed below with pale lemon 
yellow, which is deeper in the fall dress. When seen in the trees 
the birds may easily be mistaken for the small females of Vireo 
olivaceus , and they also bear a certain resemblance to Vireo belli , 
which western observers would do well to remember. 
My series of twenty-six specimens is an instructive one, con- 
taining as it does spring, summer and autumn birds, old as well 
as young. From among the latter I select the following as typical 
of the first or nestling plumage here described for the first time. 
J oung in first plumage ( $ juv. t No. 367°' Collection of J. Dwight, Jr., 
Tadousac, Quebec, July 13, 1S93): — Above, olive-brown, paler on the 
head, nape and rump. Below, pale primrose-yellow deeper on the flanks. 
Side of head, including the auriculars and superciliary stripe, buff-yellow; 
oibital ling faintly yellow; trace of dusky loral and post-ocular streak. 
Remiges (including coverts) and rectrices clove-brown narrowly edged 
externally with olive-green, brightest on the secondaries, becoming olive- 
gi ay at the apices of the primaries and secondaries and strongly tinged 
with brown on all the wing-coverts. Iris, deep hazel brown. Feet, pink- 
ish buff, drying to a dusky wood-brown. Bill, pale bistre, the lower 
mandible flesh tinged, drying to a yellowish raw umber-brown. 
The specimen is very young, the wing quills and their coverts 
only about one half grown, and the tail is barely sprouting. The 
yellow below serves to at once distinguish it from either gilvus or 
