HELMIXTHOPHAGA YIRGIXLE, VIRGIXIA's WARBLER. 51 



HehnintliopMga rubncapilla, Cab., Mus. Hein. 1850, 20.— Scl., P.Z. S. 1858,298 (Oaxaca, 



in Feb. aud Aug.)- 

 Mniotilta ruhricapiUa, Reixh., Ibis, iii, 1861, 6 (Greenland). 

 SiiMa U'Kcogastra, Shaw's Gen. Zool. x, 1817, 622. 

 ^^ Sylvia nashviUei, Vieill. — Si/lvia mcxicana, Holboll." 



Hah. — Temperate North America, but especially Eastern United States. North to 

 Canada, and to Cumberland House {Eichardsoii); casually to Greenhiud (Eeinhardt). 

 Breeds from Massachusetts northward. Numerous Mexican quotations, but none West 

 Indian nor Central American (?). West to Utah (Allen) and Calif ovnia {Cooper). "Co- 

 lumbia River" {Audubon). 



Althoug'b this species, like most others of the same geuns. was not 

 observed by either of the Expeditions, its range includes the Missouri 

 region. It is by no means an exclusively Eastern species, as will be 

 seen by the foregoing citations, its range being more nearly coincident 

 with that of peregrina than of either pinus or chrysoptera. 



The nest and eggs I have never found. The following account, given 

 by Mr. Allen, is selected from a number af our disposal. Referring to 

 Springfield, Massachusetts, he says: "Abundant in May and in the 

 early part of autumn. Arrives May 1st to oth, and for two or three 

 weeks is a common inhabitant of the orchards and gardens, activ^ely 

 gleaning insects among the unfolding leaves aud blossoms of the fruit- 

 trees. Nearly all go north, but a few retire to the woods and breed. 

 During June, 1863, 1 frequently saw them in ray excursions in the woods, 

 often three or four males in an hour's walk. Its song so much resem- 

 bles that of the Chestnut-sided Warbler, that it might readily be mis- 

 taken. To this cause, aud to the difficulty of seeiug such small birds in 

 the dense summer foliage, is doubtless owing to the fact of its being- so 

 commonly overlooked by naturalists during the summer months, rather 

 than to its [supposed] extreme rarity in this latitude at that season. I 

 have found the nest of this species for two successive seasons, as follows : 

 May 31, 1862, containing four freshly laid eggs. The nest was placed on 

 the ground, and sunken so tliat the top of the nest was level with the 

 surface of the ground, and protected and completely concealed above by 

 the dead grass and weeds of the previous year. It was composed of 

 fine rootlets and dry grasses, lined with fine dried grass and a few horse- 

 hairs, and covered exteriorly with a species of fine green moss. The 

 eggs were white, sprinkled with light reddish-brown specks, most thickly 

 near the larger end; longer dianieter 0.60, and the shorter 0.50. The 

 following year, June 5, 1863, 1 found another nest of this species within 

 three or four feet of where the one was discovered the previous year, 

 containing three eggs of this species and one of the Cow-bunting, in 

 all of which the embryos were far advanced. The nest, in every partic- 

 ular, was built and arranged like the one above described, and the ^^'^'^ 

 must have been laid at just about the same time. * * * * r^^^^ 

 locality of the nests was a nuissy l)auk at the edge of young woods, 

 sl()i)ing southward, and covered with bushes and coarse grass. Proba- 

 bly the male of the first nest, mating again, selected the same site for 

 the second nest ; and it may have been occupied for a longer time." 



IIELMlNTHOl'llAGA VIRGINI.E, Bd. 



Yirsiiiia's AVarbh'r. 



HrJminthophafja virii'miir, I5n., B. N. A. 1h;0 (not 1H5H), p. xi, pi. 7!>, f. 1 (Canton Biu;;- 

 wyn,"N.M.'); Rev. l8ti.'>, 177,-C()rKs, Pr. Phila. Acad. I8i>l), 70 (I'ort Whipple, 

 Ariz.).— C<H)i'., B. Cal. i, 1870, 85.— Aiken, Pr. Boat. Soc. 1872, 190 (Eastern 

 Colorado).— Coi-KS, Key, 1872, U4. 



IJab. — Southern Rocky Mountain rej^iou. 



