432 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



County, Ind., the sanclclierry {Prunus pumila) forms a sparse cover 

 on slope and crest. Two or three feet up in this slight vegetation, 

 whose smooth stems afford only a precarious fastening for the nests, 

 several have been found. The writer noted one which had slipped 

 from its place and spilled the four eggs unbroken on the sand." 



A typical nest before me, collected in Taunton, Mass., was well 

 concealed, only 20 inches above the ground, in a cluster of branches 

 and twigs in a dense clump of sweetf ern, close beside a woodland path 

 in a burnt-over woodlot growing up to sprout land. It is well and 

 compactly made of very fine grayish plant fibers, a little very fine 

 grass, some fine shreds of soft inner bark and a quantity of buff- 

 colored down from cinnamon ferns, as well as some other soft, gray, 

 downy substances, all firmly bound with spiders' silk. It is lined with 

 soft, gray and white hairs and a few small white feathers. Externally 

 it measures 3 by 2% inches in diameter, and about 3^4 in height; 

 the inner diameter averages about 2 inches, and the cup is nearly 2 

 inches deep. 



Eggs. — Three to five eggs, usually four, constitute the full set for 

 the prairie warbler. The eggs vary in shape from ovate to short 

 ovate, with occasionally a tendency toward elongate-ovate. They 

 are only slightly lustrous. The ground color is usually white, some- 

 times creamy white or slightly greenish white. They are spotted or 

 speckled with "chestnut," "auburn," or "russet," with underlying 

 marks of "brownish drab." Some eggs are marked only with the 

 brown shades ; others have the drab undertones predominating. Some 

 eggs are spotted with "Mars brown" and "mummy brown," with un- 

 dermarkings of "deep mouse gray," but this type of marking is not as 

 common as the reddish-brown shades. Usually a distinct wreath is 

 formed at the large end where the spots are concentrated. The meas- 

 urements of 50 eggs average 15.9 by 12.3 millimeters ; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 17.6 by 13.2, 15.9 by 13.8, 14.7 by 11.7, and 

 16.3 by 11.2 millimeters (Harris). 



Young. — The period of incubation is probably about 14 days, and 

 the young remain in the nest about 10 days (Burns, 1915b and 1921). 

 It would seem as if the incubation period might be somewhat shorter 

 and the nest life a little longer, but accurate data appear to be lacking. 

 The female probably does all the incubating and brooding, but both 

 parents feed the young and take good care of them. The nest life 

 does not seem to have been carefully studied. 



Plumages. — Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the juvenal plumage, in 

 which the sexes are alike, as "above, dull olive-green, browner on the 

 pileum. Wings and tail clove-brown edged with dull olive-green; 

 two wing bands buff. Below, dull brownish white, pale straw-color 

 on the abdomen. Sides of head drab ; eyelids white." 



