_Sylvia townsendi_, “NUTTALL,” TOWNSEND, J. A. N. Sc. VII, II, 1837,
191.—AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, pl. cccxciii. _Sylvicola t._ BON.;
AUD. Birds Am. II, 1841, pl. xcii. _Dendroica t._ BAIRD, Birds N.
Am. 1858, 269; Rev. 185.—SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oaxaca; high
lands in winter); 1859, 374 (Totontepec; winter); Ibis, 1865,
89.—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, 1859, 11 (Guatemala).—COOPER &
SUCKLEY, P. R. R. XII, II, 1859, 179 (Cal.).—TURNBULL, Birds of
East Penn., etc. 1869, 42.—SUNDEVAL, Ofvers. 1869, 610
(Sitka).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 91.
SP. CHAR. _Spring male._ Above bright olive-green; the feathers all
black in the centre, showing more or less as streaks, especially on
the crown, where the black predominates. Quills, tail, and upper
tail-covert feathers dark brown, edged with bluish-gray; the wings
with two white bands on the coverts; the two outer tail-feathers white
with a brown streak near the end; a white streak only in the end of
the third feather. Under parts as far as the middle of the body, with
the sides of head and neck, including a superciliary stripe and a spot
beneath the eye, yellow; the median portion of the side of the head,
the chin and throat, with streaks on the sides of the breast, flanks,
and under tail-coverts, black; the remainder of the under parts white.
Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.25.
_Spring female._ Resembling the male, but the black patch on the
throat replaced by irregular blotches upon a pure yellow ground.
HAB. Western Province of United States, north to Sitka; Mexico, into
Guatemala. Migratory. Accidental near Philadelphia.
The autumnal adult male is much like the spring female, but the black
throat-patch is perfectly defined, though much obscured by the yellow
edges of the feathers, instead of broken into small blotches. The
young male in autumn is similar in general appearance, but there are
no streaks above, except on the crown, where they are mostly
concealed; the stripe on side of head is olivaceous, instead of black;
and nearly all the black on the throat is concealed.
A fine adult male of this species was taken near Philadelphia, Penn.,
in the spring of 1868, and is now in the collection of the late W. P.
Turnbull, Esq., of that city.
HABITS. In regard to the habits of this very rare Western Warbler very
little is as yet positively known, and nothing whatever has been
ascertained as to its nesting or eggs. The species was first met with
by Mr. Townsend, October 28, 1835, on the banks of the Columbia River,
and was named by Mr. Nuttall in honor of its discoverer. It is spoken
of by these gentlemen as having been a transient visitor only,
stopping but a few days, on its way north, to recruit and feed,
previous to its departing for the higher latitudes in which it spends
the breeding-season. It is, however, quite as probable that they
disperse by pairs into solitary places, where for a while they escape
observation. When the season again compels them to migrate, they
reappear on the same path, only this time in small and silent flocks,
as they slowly move toward their winter quarters. These birds also are
chiefly to be found in the tops of the loftiest firs and other
evergreens of the forests, where it is almost impossible to procure
them.
Dr. Cooper observed one of this species at Shoalwater Bay, December
20, 1854. It was in company with a flock of Titmice and other small
birds. The following year, in November, he saw a small flock in
California, frequenting the willows in a low wet meadow, and was so
fortunate as to procure a pair.
Ridgway met with it in the East Humboldt Mountains, where it was
rather common in September, inhabiting the thickets of aspens, alders,
etc., along the streams.
Mr. P. L. Sclater obtained several fine specimens of this Warbler from
the west coast of Central America, and Mr. Salvin found it a winter
visitant at Duenas, where he met with it even more frequently than the
_Dendroica virens_, with which he found it associated. Skins were
found among the birds taken by Dr. Van Patten in Guatemala. A single
specimen has been taken in Pennsylvania.
Mr. A. Boucard obtained specimens of this species in the mountainous
district of Totontepec, in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Dendroica occidentalis, BAIRD.