SVLVICOLIDiE — THE WARBLERS. 321 



lar cliaut. A few pairs may occasionally be fouiul in the same iieiglilxirhond. 

 At other times only a single pair can be tbiuid in (piite a wide extent of ter- 

 ritory of similar character. They build their nests, as well as I can judge, 

 about the first of June, as the young are hatched out and on the wing about 

 the last of that mouth, or the first of July. I have never found a nest, but 

 I think they are built on the ground. They are silent after the first of July, 

 and are rarely to be seen after that period." The song of this bird is a very 

 pleasing one, though heard but seldom, and only in a few localities in Mas- 

 sachusetts. 



Near Washington Dr. Coues found the Canada Flycatcher only a spring 

 and autumnal visitant, at which seasons they were abundant. They fre- 

 quented high open wood.s, and kept mostly in the lower branches of the trees, 

 and also in the more open undergrowth of marshy places. They arrive the 

 last week in April and remain aljout two weeks, ariiving in fall the first 

 week in September, and remaining until the last of that mouth. 



The first well-identified nest of this bird that came to my knowledge was 

 obtained in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. George 0. Welch, in June, 185G. It was 

 built in a tussock of grass, in swampy woods, concealed by the surrounding 

 rank vegetation, in the midst of which it was placed. It was constructed 

 entirely of pine-needles and a few fragments of decayed leaves, grapevine 

 bark, fine stems, and rootlets. These were so loosely interwoven that the 

 nest could not be removed without great care to keep its several portions 

 together. Its diameter was three and a half inches, and it was very nearly 

 fiat. Its greatest depth, at the centre of its depression, was hardly half an 

 inch. It contained four young, and an unhatched egg. 



Another nest found in June, 18G4, by the same observing naturalist, was also 

 obtained in the neighborhood. This was built in a tussock of meadow-grass, 

 in the midst of a small boggy piece of swamp, in which were a few scattered 

 trees and bushes. The ground was so marshy that it could be crossed only 

 with difficulty, and by stepi)ing from one tussock of reedy herbage to another. 

 In the centre of one of these bunches the nest was concealed. It measures 

 six inches in its larger diameter, and has a height of two and a quarter 

 inches. The cavity of this nest is two and three quarters inches wide, 

 and one and three quarters deep. It is very strongly constructed of pine- 

 needles, interwoven with fine strijis of bark, dry deciduous leaves, stems of diy 

 grasses, sedges, etc. The whole is firmly and conqiactly interwoven witli and 

 strengthened around the rim of the cavity bv strong, wiry, and fibrous roots. 

 The nest is very carefully and elaborately lined with tlie black fibrous roots 

 of some plant. The eggs, which were five in number, measure .72 of an inch 

 in length by ..56 in breadth. Their ground-color is a clear and brilliant 

 white, and this is beautifully marked with dots and small blotches of blended 

 brown, purple, and violet, varying in shades and tints, and grouped in a 

 wreath around the larger end. 



41 



