356 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



bushes, constructing a globular shaped nest with an entrance in one 

 side. The structure is very large for so small a bird. Extefiorally it is 

 built of weed stems, dry grasses, and lined with finer and softer vege- 

 table fibres. The eggs are two to four in number, commonly four, are 

 white, finely speckled with reddish-brown, chiefly at the larger end ; 

 average size .60 x .50. 



636. Mniotilta varia (LINN.) [74,740.] 



Black and "White Warbler. 



Hab. Eastern North America, north to Fort Simpson, west to the Great Plains; in winter Gulf States, 

 West Indies, Central America and Northern South America. 



The little Black-and-white Creeping Warbler, which climbs around 

 the trunks of trees and among their branches in the manner of a true 

 Creeper, breeds throughout its range, and winters from the southern 

 border of the United States southward. 



Nests usually in the latter part of May and in June, constructing a 

 neat, compact domicile of leaves, bark-strips, grasses, with a lining of 

 hairs and hair-like roots. The nest is built on the ground in woods, 

 usually imbedded in a depression, and built on a foundation of decayed 

 wood or leaves. It is generally placed under the shelter of weeds, by 

 the side of a stump, failed log, or under a projecting stone on a hillside. 



The eggs are usually five in number. A series of ten sets in Mr. 

 Norris' cabinet exhibit considerable variation in size and markings, 

 yet on the whole the eggs have an individuality of their own which 

 enables one to distinguish them from the eggs of any other Warbler. 

 The typical egg of this species is white or creamy-white, speckled 

 and spotted with chestnut and hazel, generally in the form of a wreath 

 around the larger end, although the rest of the surface is not unspot- 

 ted. A typical set measures .65x.5i, .63X.5I, .6ox.5o, .65x49, .6^.x 

 .50 ; the average is .65 x .55. 



637. Protonotaria citrea (BODD.) [75.] 



Prothonotary 'Warbler. 



Hab. Mississippi Valley and Gulf States north regularly as far as Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, etc., cas- 

 ually to Wisconsin; rare or casual on the Atlantic Coast, north of Georgia, south in winter to Cuba, Central 

 America and Northern South America. 



The vicinity of willow swamps, the borders of ponds and streams 

 in the bottom lands of the Mississippi Valley and Gulf States is the 

 summer home of the Golden Swamp Warbler. Messrs. Keyes and 

 Williams record it as a summer resident of Iowa and not uncommon, 

 especially in the eastern part of the State. Col. Goss gives it as a 

 summer resident of Kansas ; common in the eastern portion. It is ' 

 abundant in porti'ons of Indian Territory and Texas. Prof. Evermann 

 notes the Prothonotary Warbler as a rare summer resident of Carroll 

 county, Indiana. It is a summer resident in Western Ohio, where it 



