46 PARULA AMERICANA, BLUE YELLOW-BACKED WARBLER. 



nest "niched in the shelvin,i>- of a rock, on the surface of the ground." 

 Dr. Brewer states, that so far as he knows, it always bniUls on the 

 gTouiid, and mentious a nest found in the drain of a house. The eggs 

 are described as being from three to seven in number, four and one- half 

 eighths to six-eighths long, by one-half an inch to nine-sixteenths broad ; 

 oval, nearly equal at both ends, white, speckled with brownish red and 

 purplish dots, chiedy at the larger end. A nest described by Dr. Drewer 

 was (composed externally of coarse hay, and compactly lined with horse- 

 hair; Mr. Nuttall's was of coarse strips of inner hemlock bark, mixed 

 with old leaves and grass, and lined with hair. Dr. Brewer's measured 

 three and one-half inches across outside, by one inch internal dei)th. 



The home of this little bird is one often invaded by the Cow- bird ; on 

 several different occasions, of which I am informed, as many as three 

 or four of the alien eggs having been found in it. Its low situation 

 probably favors the Cow-bird in this respect. This Warbler surpasses 

 all others in the agility and ease with which it scrambles in every direc- 

 tion and in every attitude, up, down, and around the trunks or branches 

 of trees, its habits being as strongly pronounced as those of a Creeper 

 itself, and correspondingly different from those of its allies among the^ 

 true Warblers. It is very abundant throughout the wooded portions of 

 the Eastern United States, and in spring is as noisy as it is active, con- 

 tinually uttering its queer, screeping song in the springtime, during its 

 busy search for insects. 



PAEULA AMERICANA, (Linn.) Bp. 



Blue Yellow-backed AVarbler. 



Pa7-ns amcricauttn, Llnx., Syst. Nat. i, 1758, 190. 



Motacilla americaiia, Gm., Syst. Nut. i, 1788, 960. 



SnJvla americana, Lath,, lud. Orn. ii, 1790, 520.— AuD., Orn. Biog. i, 1832, 78, pi. 15. 



Syhkola amcrieaiia, Aud., B. Am. ii, 1841, 57, pi. 91.— Woodh., Sitgr. Rep. 1853, 71 



(l)rei'(ling in ludiiin Territory)- 

 FaruJa amencaiia, Br., Comp. ami Geog. List, 1838, 20.— GOSSE, B. Jam. 1847, 1.54.— Bd., 



B. N. A. 1858, 238; Rev. 1864, 169.— Hayd., Rep. 1862, 159.— Lawk., Ann. Lye. 



ix, 1869. 200 (Yucatan).- Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. ii, 1871, 267 (Florida, \viuter- 



iug); iii, 1872, 124, 175.— Aiken, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1872, 198 (Black Hills).— Scott, 



ibid. (West Virginia, in summer).- CouES, Key, 1872, 92.— Tkippe, Pr. Bost. 



Soc. XV, 1872,' 234 (Iowa).— Snow, B. Kaus. 1873, 4.— And of late writers 



generally. 

 Compsoilihjpis americana, Cab., Mus. Heiu. 1850,20; J. f. 0. iii, 1855, 476. 

 Fimlnht fmhriciana, Bkiss., Oru. iii, 1760, 500, pi. 26. 

 Motacilla Judoviciana, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 983. 



Motacilla eqiies, BoDDiERT, Planches Eulnm., 1783, pi. 731, f. 1; pi. 709, f. 1. 

 Salvia torqitata, Vieill., Ois. Am. Sept. ii, 1807, 38, pi. 99. 

 Tlirijolhortis iofqiiatus, Stepii., Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiv, 1826, 94. 

 Salvia pntiiUa, WiLS., Am. Orn. iv, 1811, 17, pi. 28. 

 Sijlricola pmiUa, Sw., Zool. Jouru. iii, 1827, 169. 



^o/).— Eastern North America. North to Nova Scotia. West to the Missouri, as far 

 at least as the Platte; to the Black Hills {Ailcn). Mexico (Xalapa, ScJ., P. Z. S. 1857, 

 202). South to Guatemala (Ibis, 1859, 10). West Indies (Cuba, Cah., J. f. O. iii, 476; 

 Santa Cruz, Xewt., Ibis, i, 143; St. Thomas, Cass., Pr. Phila. Acad. 1861, 376; Jamaica, 

 Gossc, B. Jam. 154). Greenland {Uciiih., Ibis, 1861, 6). Winters from Southern Florida 

 southward. 



Lieutenant Warrcn^s Expedition. — 4671, mouth of Platte. 



Not obtained by Captain Raynolds' Expedition, or by the later ones. 



This elegant little species, one of the most prettily marked of the 

 whole group, withdraw^s almost entirely from the United States in win- 

 ter, though Mr. Allen has noted its occasional occurrence at that seasoa 

 in Florida, and proceeds as far south as Guatemala. On the vernal mi- 

 gration it reaches the Middle States late in April, and is very abundant 

 during the lirst half of the following month. The greater number pro- 



