Lake Umbagog journals, 1871-1916 (inclusive)
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Transcription
Compsothlypis americana usneae. DESCRIPTIONS OF A NEW WARBLER AND A NEW SONG SPARROW. Auk, XIII, Jan., 1896, pp. 44-46. BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. On examining the large series of Parula Warblers contained in the United States National Museum and in my own collection— in all upwards of two hundred specimens—I find that the birds which breed in the lowlands of our Southern States differ so appreciably from those which pass their summers at the North as to make it desirable to separate the two subspecifically. The southern form has first claim to the name americana, for Catesby's excellent plate and description of “Parus fringillaris” (Nat. Hist. Car., etc. I, 1731, p. 64), on which Linnaeus based his Parus americanus (Sys. Nat., I, 1758, p. 190), were unmistakably taken from a southern bird. As no one of the other names which have been applied to the species at large seems to be clearly available for the northern form,¹ I propose to call the latter Compsothlypis americana usneæ,² new subspecies. NORTH- ERN PARULA WARBLER. Type, ♂ ad., No. 5392, Collection of W. Brewster, Lake Umbagog, Maine, May 14, 1881; W. Brewster. ¹ Ficedula ludovicianana Briss. (Orn. III, 1760, p. 500, pl. 26), Motacilla ludovi- ciana Gmel. (Sys. Nat. I, 1788, p. 983, based on Brisson) and Motacilla eques Boddært (Planches Enlum., 1783, pl. 731, fig. 1, 709 fig. 1) all relate exclu- sively to the southern bird. Sylvia torquata Vieill. (Ois. Am. Sept., II, 1807, p. 38, pl. 99) is in some doubt inasmuch as “New York” is mentioned in connection with its range, but the accompanying description, as far as it can be identified, applies to the southern form. Sylvia pusilla Wils. (Am. Orn. IV, 1811, p. 17, pl. 28) is preoccupied in Latham's ‘Index Ornithologicus,’ Supplement, II. 1801, p. 56, by Sylvia pusilla = Acanthisa pusilla Vigors, an Australian bird belonging to the family Timeliidae. ² This bird usually, if not invariably, builds its nest in or of the Usnea ‘moss,’ while its southern representative, the true C. americana, is almost equally addicted to nesting in the Spanish moss (Tillandsia). two forms save by the difference in size, and in the shape and pro- 29