SYLVICOLID.E — THE WARBLERS. 185 



of resort. They also preferred the borders of sheets of water to the interior 

 of the forest. They return iu spring to the Southern States early in March, 

 but to Kentucky not before the hist of April. They leave in October, and 

 raise but a single brood in a season. Audubon describes their nest, but it 

 it differs so essentially from their known mode of breeding, that he was 

 evidently in error in regard to his supposed identification of the nest oi 

 this species. 



Dr. Bachmau, who often met tiiem on tlie borders of small streams near 

 Charleston, was confident tliat they breed in that State, and noticed a pair 

 with four young birds as early as June 1, in 1836. 



Eecently more light has been thrown upon their habits by ilr. B. F. 

 Goss, who, iu May, I860, found them l:)reeding near Neosho Falls, in Kansas. 

 The nest was built within a Woodpecker's hole in the stump of a tree, 

 not more than three feet liigli. The nest was not rounded in shape, but 

 made to conform to the irregular cavity in which it was built. It was 

 of oblong shape, and its cavity was deepest, not in the centre, but at one 

 end, uj)on a closely impacted base made up of fragments of dried leave.s, 

 broken bits of grasses, stems, mosses, and lichens, decayed wood, and otlier 

 material, tlie upper portion consisting of an interweaving of fine roots of 

 wooded plants, varying in size, l)iit rdl strong, wiry, and slender. It was 

 lined with hair. 



Other nests since discovered are of more uniform forms, circular in shape, 

 and of coarser materials, and all are built witli unusual strength and care for 

 a nest occupying a sheltered cavity. 



In one instance their nest was built in a brace-hole within a mill, where 

 the birds could be closely watched as they carried in the materials, and the 

 parent was afterward taken by hand by ilr. Goss from its nest. It was 

 quite tame, and approached within two yards of him. 



Since then ^Ir. Eidgway has obtained a ne.st at IMt. Carmel, 111. It was 

 budt in a hollow snag, aliout five feet from the ground, iu the river bot- 

 tom. So far from being noisy and vociferous, as its name would seem to 

 imply, Mr. Eidgway describes it as one of the shyest and most silent of aU. 

 the Warblers. 



The eggs of this Warbler have an average breadth of .55 of an inch and a 

 length varying from .65 to .70 of an inch. They are of a rounded-oval form, 

 one end being Ijut slightly less rounded than the other. Their ground-color 

 is a yellowish or creamy white, more or less profusely marked over their 

 entire surface with lilac, purple, aud a dark purplish-brown. 



^Ir. Eidgway states that it is always an alnnidant summer liird in the 

 Walia.sh bottoms, where it inhabits jirinciiialh' bushy swamps and the wil- 

 lows around the borders of stagnant lagoons or " ponds " near the river, and 

 in such localities, iu company with tlie White-bellied Swallow [Hirunclo 

 hiivlor), takes possession of the holes of the Downy Woodpecker {Piciis 

 pabcscens) and Chickadee (I'liri's i-ardlhii'iisU), in which to build its nest. 

 24 



