212 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



pillars. They also resort to the ground, and turn over the dried 

 leaves in quest of the same kind of food. They are unsuspecting, 

 and will suffer a person to approach within a few jDaces. When 

 disturbed, they fly off to some place where withered leaves are 

 seen. They have only a few weak notes, which do not deserve 

 the name of song. Their industry, however, atones for this defect, 

 as they are seen continually moving about, rustling among the 

 leaves, and scarcely ever removing from one situation to another, 

 until after they have made a full inspection of the part in which 

 they have been emj^loyed." 



The nest of this active little bird is formed of singular 

 materials, being composed externally of dried mosses and 

 the green blossoms of hickories and chestnut-trees, while 

 the interior is prettily lined with fine fibrous roots, the 

 whole apparently rather small for the size of the occupants. 

 About tlie middle of May, the female lays four or five eggs, 

 wliicli are cream-colored, with a few dark-red spots near the 

 larger end, leaving a circular unspotted part at the ex- 

 tremity. The nest is usually placed between two small 

 twigs of a bush, not more than eight or nine feet from the 

 ground, and sometimes only four or five. 



HELMINTHOrHAGA, Cabanis. 



Helminthophaga, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. (1850-51) 20. (Type Sylvia ritficapilln.) 

 Bill elongated, conical, very acute ; the outlines very nearly straight, sometimes 

 slightl}' decurved; no trace of notch at the tip; wings long and pointed; the tirst 

 quill near!}' or quite the longest; tail nearlj' even or slightly emarginate; short and 

 rather slender; tarsi longer than the middle toe. 



HELMINTH0PHA6A FINJJS. — Baird. 



The Blue-winged Yellow Warbler. 



Certhin pinus, Linnffius. Syst. Nat, I. (1766) 187. Gm., I. (1788) 478. 



Sylvia solitaria, Wilson. Am. Orn., IL (1810) 109. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. (1832) 102. 



Sylvia {Dac7iis) solitaria, Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 410. 



Descriition. 



Upper parts and cheeks olive-green, brightest on the rump ; the wings, tail, and 

 upper tail coverts, in part, bluish-gray; an intense!}' black patch from the blue- 



