94 LAND-BIRDS. 



nature, as to render any theory of accidental variation exceed- 

 ingly unlikely, while hybrids — at least among the smaller 

 species of undomesticated birds — are of such shadowy and 

 problematical existence that their probable bearing upon the 

 present case is hardly worthy of consideration." 



C. RUFICAPILLA. NasJivUle Warbler. Quite common as a 

 migrant through this State, where a very few regularly breed.* 



a. About 4|^ inches long. Above, dull olive. Beneath, 

 yellow. Back of head., slate. Crown, more or less marked 

 with chestnut red. In J , head-markings indistinct, and crown- 

 patch often wanting. 



h. The nest is placed on the ground, either in some open 

 part of the woods, or amongst the shrubbery of some southerly 

 facing bank. It is commonly composed of dead leaves, strips 

 of thin bark, grasses, etc., and is often lined with hairs. The 

 eggs of each set are four,t averaging about .63 X .50 of an inch, 

 and are here laid about the first of June. The eggs are white, 

 and vary between the extremes of being finely and thickly 

 marked about the crown with lilac, and being thinly and 

 coarsely blotched at the greater end with reddish brown ; these 

 markings being sometimes combined. 



c. The Nashville Warblers are summer residents through- 

 out New England, but apparently they are more numerous in 

 the northern than in the southern portions. In Massachusetts, 

 they are rare during summer, but are common at the time of 

 their migrations, which here occur about the middle of May ^ 

 and of September. In spring and autumn, whilst traveling, 

 they habitually frequent lightly-timbered woodland, and some- 

 what, also, shrubbery about houses, but where they are resi- 

 dent in summer they chiefly affect dry scrub-land, often that 

 which is partially wooded. Their constant activity and indus- 



* The Nashville Warbler breeds a sing-le authentic record of its oc- 



throughout New England, from the currenee in midwinter near Boston. — 



shores of Long Island Sound to the W. B. 



Canadian border, but more numerously t Five are frequently if not usually 



in the northern than in the southern laid. — W. B. 



tier of States. It is everywhere com- ^ I have seen them from the 5th 



mon during the migrations. There is imtil the 20th. 



