246 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



by possessing a trace, or a distinct stripe, of cliestiuit on the flanks, tlie 

 young female at least lacking it. 



Habits. The geographical distriliutiou of this common species during its 

 season of reproduction is inferred rather tlian positively known. So far 

 as I anr aware, it is not known to breeil farther south than Massachusetts. 

 Yet it is probable that, when we know its history more exactly, it will be 

 fiiund during the breeding-season in different suitalile localities from Penn- 

 sylvania to Canada. Mr. H. W. Parker, of Grinnell, Iowa, mentions this 

 bird as common in that ueighljorhood. 



Until recently it was regarded as a rather rare species, and to a large ex- 

 tent it had escaped the notice of our older ornithological writers. Wilson 

 could give but little account of its habits. It passed rajudly by him in its 

 spring migrations. He did not regard it as common, presumed that it has 

 no song, and nearly all that he says in regard to it is conjectural. Mr. Au- 

 dubon met witli this species but once, and knew nothing as to its habits 

 or distribution. Mr. Nuttall, who observed it in Massachusetts, where it is 

 now known to be not uncoiumon in certain localities, also regarded it as very 

 rare. His account of it is somewhat hyiiothetical and inexact. Its song he 

 very accurately descrilies as similar to that of tlie D. wstiva, only less of a 

 whistle and somewhat louder. He represents it as expressed by (sh-tsh-tsh- 

 tshyia, given at inter\als of half a minute, and often answered by its mate 

 from her nest. Its lay is characterized as simple and lively. Late in June, 

 1831, he observed a pair collecting food for their young on the margin of the 

 Fresh Pond swamjjs in Cambridge. 



Mr. Allen has found this .species quite connnon in Western ^Massachusetts, 

 arriving there about the 9th of May, and remaining through the sumnier to 

 breed. He states — and his observations in this respect correspond with my 

 own — that during the breeding-season they frequent low woods and swanijiy 

 thickets, nesting in bushes, and adds that they are rarely found among high 

 trees. They leave there early in September. 



Professor Verrill found this Warbler a common summer visitant in West- 

 ern Maine, arriving about the; second week in May, and remaining there to 

 breed. Mr. Boardman thinks it reaches Eastern Maine al;)out tlie middle 

 of May, and is a connnon summer resident. I did not meet this species 

 either in New Bi'unswick or Nova Scotia, nor was Dr. Bryant more for- 

 tunate, but Lieutenant Bland gives it in bis manuscript list of the birds 

 found in the neighborhood of Halifax. 



Mr. Ridgway informs me that this species breeds in the oak openings and 

 among the prairie thickets of Southern Illinois. 



Dtu'ing the eight months that are not included in their season of repro- 

 duction, this species is scattered over a wide extent of territory. Their 

 earliest ap])earance in the Northern States (at Plattesmouth) is April 26, and 

 they all disappear early in September. At other times they have been met 

 with in the Bahamas, in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Pica, and Panama. It has 



