WARBLERS 



115 



Swainson's \\ arbler is a strange, rare, soulli- 

 ern bird. He is so strange that one hardly ex- 

 pects to call such a plain brown and white bird 

 gliding so gracefully along under the bushes a 

 Warbler. He is so rare that one may search for 

 days and not find him. Even in the South, one 

 has to confine one's search for him to the coastal 

 swamps from the Dismal Swam]) of Virginia 

 down through the " jjineland gal! " of the Caro- 

 linas, west in the vine-tangled .senfitrnpical ver- 

 dure of the (iulf coast and up the .Mississi]ipi and 

 some of its tributaries in the thickets nf the bot- 

 tom lands. 



In describing the song. Mr. W illiam llrewster 

 says it is " a performance so remarkable that it 

 can scarcely fail to attract the dullest ear, while 

 it is not likely to be soon forgotten. It consists 



of a series of clear, ringing whistles, the first 

 four uttered rather slowly and in the same key, 

 the remaining five or six given more rapidly, and 

 in an evenly descending scale, like those of the 

 Canon Wren. ... In general eft'ect it recalls 

 the song of the \\ ater-thrush. . . . It is very 

 loud, very rich, very beautiful, while it has an 

 indescribably tender (puility that thrills the senses 

 after the sound has ceased. . . . Although a 

 rarely fer\ent and ecstatic smigster, our little 

 friend is als(.) a fitful an<l uncertain one. You 

 may wait fur Imurs near his retreat e\en in early 

 morning or late afterndun, without hearing a 

 note. But when the inspiratinn comes he floods 

 the woods with music, one song often following 

 another so cpiickly that there is scarce a pause 

 for breath between." 



WORM-EATING WARBLER 



Helmitheros vermivorus {Gmclin) 



;\. n. V. Number 659 See fnlnr Tlate 92 



Other Names. — Worm-eater : \^'or^l-eatiI1p: Swamp 

 W'arhler. 



General Description. — Length. 5'j iiirhc;. Upper 

 parts, grayish olive-green ; under parts, huffy. Rill, 

 decidedly shorter than head, wedge-shaped ; wings, 

 rather long and pointed; tail, even or very slightly 

 rounded, the feathers moderately hroad. 



Color. — Adults (sexes alike': Crown with two hroad 

 lateral strlf>cs of Hack and a center one of olive-huff : 

 rest of upper parts, plain grayish olive-.green ; a hroad 

 stripe over eye of pale buff, margined beneath by a 



rather broad streak of black behind eye; a triangular 

 spot of the same, or dusky grayish, in front of eye; 

 sides of head below this black line, with entire under 

 parts, pale dull huffy, deepest on chest, paler on throat 

 and abdomen (the latter sometimes nearly white), 

 tinged with grayish-olive on flanks; under tail-coverts, 

 pale olive-grayish, edged and broadly tipped with pale 

 yellowish-buff: bill, brown; iris, brown; legs and feet, 

 pale brownish flesh cnlnr. 



Nest and Eggs.— Xkst: On the ground, generally 

 on a woody hillside: constructed of dead leaves and 



WORM-EATING WARBLER 



[e spends most of his time on the ground 

 within a few feet of it 



