EASTERN MYRTLE WARBLER 239 



nut trees, rotten wood, etc., bound together with spiders' webs, and 

 lined with fern rootlets and fine grass." 



Thomas D. Burleigh (1927a) records four nests found, during May 

 and June, on the slopes of Brasstown Bald in the northeastern part 

 of Georgia : Two of these were in laurel bushes, 2 and 21/0 feet from 

 the ground ; another was 2 feet up in the fork of a small viburnum ; 

 and the fourth was 5 feet from the ground, "saddled near the end of 

 a drooping limb of a rhododendron at the base of a large yellow birch 

 well up the mountainside." A nest in my collection was taken by H. H. 

 Bailey in Giles County, Va., at an elevation of 4,000 feet, on May 22, 

 1914; it was placed in a horsechestnut sprout alongside of a road, 1 

 foot above the ground. This and another nest before me are very 

 similar to those described above. 



Eggs. — The 3 or 4 eggs laid by Cairn's warbler are practically indis- 

 tinguishable from those of the black-throated blue warbler. The meas- 

 urements of 30 eggs average 17.3 by 12.7 millimeters ; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 19.0 by 13.0, 17.9 by 13.4, and 16.0 by 

 12.0 millimeters (Harris). 



DENDROICA CORONATA CORONATA (Linnaeus) 

 EASTERN MYRTLE WARBLER 



Platks 31-33 

 HABITS 



We used to call this the yellow-rumped warbler, a none too dis- 

 tinctive name, as other warblers have yellow rumps. Another early 

 and slightly better name, "yellow-crowned wood warbler," reflected 

 the scientific name coronata and was based on the old Edwards name 

 "golden-crowned fly-catcher." The present name, Eastern myrtle 

 warbler, comes from its fondness for the ben-ies of the waxmyrtle 

 {Myrica cerifera) ; and in the south, where it is common in winter, 

 it is often called the myrtlebird. 



Next to the yellow warbler, this is probably the best known of 

 the wood warblers and is about the second one of the group that the 

 novice learns to recognize. All through the eastern United States 

 this is by far the most abundant warbler on both migrations, being 

 about the first to arrive in the spring and the last to leave in the 

 fall, often remaining all winter nearly up to the southern limits 

 of its breeding range. It is a large, conspicuous warbler, not at 

 all shy, and is to be found almost anywhere, often in enormous num- 

 bers. The breeding range of the species is one of the most extensive, 

 extending from the tree limit in Alaska and northern Canada down 

 through the coniferous forests into the northern tier of States, and 

 even farther south in the mountains. Its winter range is still more 



