Mr. A. Boucard obtained specimens of this species in the mountainous district of Totontepec, in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Dendroica occidentalis, Baird.
WESTERN WARBLER.
Sylvia occidentalis, Townsend, J. A. N. Sc. VII, II, 1837, 190 (Columbia River).—Ib. Narrative, 1839, 340.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, pl. lv. Sylvicola occ. Bon.; Aud. Birds Am. II, pl. xciii. Dendroica occ. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 268; Rev. 183.—Cooper & Suckley, R. R. Rep. XII, II, 1859, 178 (N. W. coast).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 92. Dendroica chrysopareia, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1862, 19 (La Parada, Mex.) (not of P. Z. S. 1860, 19); Ibis, 1865, 89; 1866, 191. Dendroica niveiventris, Salvin, P. Z. S. May 26, 1863, 187, pl. xxiv, fig. 2 (Guatemala).
Sp. Char. Spring male. Crown with sides of the head and neck continuous bright yellow, feathers of the former edged narrowly with black; rest of upper parts dark brown, edged with bluish-gray, so much so on the back and rump feathers as to obscure the brown, and with an olivaceous shade. Chin, throat, and forepart of breast (ending convexly behind in a subcrescentic outline), with the nape, black; rest of under parts white, very faintly streaked on the sides with black. Two white bands on the wing, two outer tail-feathers, and the terminal portion of a third, white; the shafts, and an internal streak towards the end, dark brown. Bill jet-black; legs brown. Length, 4.70; wing, 2.70; tail, 2.30.
Spring female. Similar, but duller gray above; the yellow of the head less extended, and the throat whitish spotted with dusky.
Hab. Western Province of United States and Mexico (Moyapam, winter, Sumichrast) to Guatemala. Not seen at Cape St. Lucas.
An autumnal adult male (30,681, Guatemala, December, received from Mr. Salvin, and a type specimen of his “niveiventris”) is much like the spring male, having the throat wholly black, the feathers, however, faintly margined
with whitish; there are no black spots on the crown, but, instead, an olivaceous stain; the nape is olivaceous instead of black, and the black centres to dorsal feathers more concealed; the ash above is less pure, and there is no trace of streaks on the sides. A female (autumnal?)—38,141—from Orizaba, Mexico, is grayish-olivaceous above, including the whole top of the head, except beneath the surface; the feathers on top of head have conspicuous black centres, but there are none on the back; the sides of the head, and the bases of the feathers on its top, are soiled yellow; the throat is dirty white, with the feathers dusky beneath the surface; the breast and sides have a strong brownish tinge. Another female, and an autumnal one (probably of the year), is more brown above, the specks on the top of the head exceedingly minute; there are also obscure streaks along the sides, where there is a strong brownish tinge.
Habits. The Western or Hermit Wood Warbler, so far as known, is limited in its distribution to the Pacific coast from Central America to Washington Territory. Specimens procured from Volcan de Fuego, Mexico, Arizona, and California, are in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. But little is positively known as to its history or habits. Nuttall, who first met with it in the forests on the banks of the Columbia, had no doubt that it breeds in the dark forests bordering on that river. He described it as a remarkably shy and solitary bird, retiring into the darkest and most silent recesses of the evergreens, and apparently living among the loftiest branches of the gigantic firs of that region. In consequence of its peculiar habits it was with extreme difficulty that his party could get a sight of this retiring species. Its song, which he frequently heard from these high tree-tops at very regular intervals for an hour or two at a time, he describes as a faint, moody, and monotonous note, delivered when the bird is at rest on some lofty twig, and within convenient hearing of its mate.