242 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Description. 



Above uniform olive-green; the middle of the back streaked with brownish-red. 

 Under parts and sides of the head, including a broad superciliary line from the nos- 

 trils to a little behind the eye, bright-yellow, briglitest anteriorly; a well-defined 

 narrow stripe from the commissure of the mouth through the eye, and another from 

 the same point curving gently below it, also a series of streaks on. each side of the 

 body, extending from the throat to the flanks, black; quills and tail feathers brown, 

 edged with white; the terminal half of the inner web of the first and second tail 

 feathers white; two yellowish bands on the wings. Female similar, but duller; 

 the dorsal streaks indistinct. 



Length, four and eightj'-six one-hundredths inches; wing, two and twenty -five 

 one-hundredths; tail, two and ten one-hundredths inches. 



This beautiful bird is not very common in any part of 

 New England ; and it appears to be a rather rare species 

 north of Massachusetts, wliich State seems to be its northern 

 breeding limit. It makes its appearance about the third 

 week in May, and commences building about the last of 

 that month. I have been so fortunate as to find two nests 

 in Norfolk County, and have had another nest and eggs sent 

 me from Belmont, in this State : I have also known of sev- 

 eral other nests being found, and judge that the species 

 breeds not uncommonly in Massachusetts and the other two 

 southern New-England States. These nests were all placed 

 in low barberry bushes, in rocky localities. They are ex- 

 ceedingly neat structures, the most so of any of our New- 

 England Warblers' nests : they are constructed of various 

 soft cottony substances, after the manner of the nest of the 

 Yellow Warbler, and are lined with soft feathers and wool. 

 The eggs are usually three in number. These are of a beau- 

 tiful pearly-white color, with a slight roseate tint, and cov- 

 ered irregularly with small spots of different shades of 

 brown and lilac, thickest at the large end. Dimensions of 

 three eggs collected in Belmont, Mass. : .64 by .52 inch, .63 

 by .52 inch, .60 by .50 inch. The above-described nests 

 were invariably placed in the fork of the bush in which 

 they were built : the materials were the same, consisting of 

 the down from different plants, cotton, wool, and other like 

 substances. I find, on referring to Audubon, Wilson, and 



