TOWNSEND WARBLER. Dendroica townsendi (Townsend)

Field characters.—Half bulk of Junco. Head, chin, and throat black (mixed with yellow in females and young), with a line of yellow over eye and another from bill down side of throat; sides of body streaked with black; fore half of belly yellow, the rest white; upper surface black and dull yellow; two white bars on wing; tail white margined. Voice: Song not heard; call note a sharp tsip.

Occurrence.—Transient along west slope and east base of Sierra Nevada. Observed by us west of Pleasant Valley, May 24, 1915, near Coulterville, May 10, 1919, and at Mono Lake Post Office, May 24 and 31, 1916. Likely to be seen in oak trees or chaparral. To some degree gregarious.

An observer stationed in the western foothills at the appropriate season would probably see much more of the Townsend Warbler than we did. We encountered it upon only two occasions, as a spring transient; but numbers of the birds undoubtedly pass through the foothills in both spring and fall. On one occasion a scattering band of at least a dozen warblers was seen moving northward, some Townsends being distinguished among them. The others could not be recognized because the glimpses obtained of them as they passed through the wind-rocked foliage of some oaks were too fleeting.