280 | -- BIRDS—SYLVICOLID&. 
crown with scarcely concealed blackish 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. | 
The description of Dr. Coues, given above, agrees with that of Prof. 
Baird in asserting that the female has no black on the head. Mr. C. H 
Merriam (Rev. Birds of Connecticut, 1877, 25) describes a specimen of 
the female which “has the crown of the head or ‘hood’ deep black, as 
rich a8 in the male. The lores also in this specimen are black, and the 
auriculars lack the olive tinge, being bright yellow.” He suggests that 
the female is “several years—at least three—in attaining its full plum- 
age; and that the two sexes, when fully aduit, can only be distinguished 
by the fact that, in the female, the throat, though strongly tinged with 
black, is never pure black, as in the ixale.” ane 
Mr, Hh. A. Mearns, of West Point, N. Y., (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1 i 
1878, 71). endorses Mr. Merriam’s views, and states that ‘the females of 
the second summer are entirely witt out black upon the head, and I have 
frequently found them sitting upon their eggs in that condition. Only 
in extreme examples does the biack of the head and throat of the female 
approach the purity of those parts in the male.” Mr. KE. P. Bicknell 
(Ball, iii, 1878, 130) mentions a female in which “the black, though 
well defined in the region of the occiput, is scarcely detectible on the 
throat; while another, though less definitely marked, represents an 
almost opposite phase.” My female specimen has the yellow of fore- 
head extending to beyond the eyes, slightly obscured by olive tips; the 
rest of head and neck behind blackish, partially concealed by olive tips, 
but the sides of occiput just above the bright yellow superciliary line 
definitely dull black, entire under parts bright yellow, the feathers of 
chin and throat with white, those of breast with dusky, bases. It seems 
to me probable that females of the same age are not always of the same 
pattern, or that they reach their final stage by varying steps. 
The Hooded Warbler frequents thickets and undergrowth, and like 
other members of the genus, is very active in capturing insects on the 
wing, in the manner of the true Flycatchers. They have the habit of 
spreading out and closing the tail like the Redstart, and are very skillful 
in concealing themselves in thickets when pursued. The nest is placed 
in a bush or low tree, within a few feet of the ground. It is built of 
leaves and cearse grasses, and lined with fine grass and horse-hair. The 
eggs are white, tinged with flesh-color, spotted with red. They measure 
10 by .50. 
