392 NOTES ON THE 



little quantity of horsehairs. Some nests have fine grass in 

 their lining. They lay four flesh-tinted white eggs, spotted at 

 the large end with brown, and dotted with pale-brown and lav- 

 ender. 



Mr. Washburn obtained a beautiful specimen at St. Vincent, 

 in the Red river valley late in August. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Upper parts exclusive of wing and tail, clear yellow, olive 

 green, the feathers of the back with hidden streaks of black; 

 forehead, sides of head and neck, including a superciliary 

 stripe, bright yellow; a dusky olive line from the bill through 

 the eye, and another below it; chin, throat and fore part of 

 breast, extending some distance along the sides, continuous 

 black; rest of under parts white, tinged with yellow on the 

 breast and flanks; wings and tail feathers dark brown, edged 

 with bluish gray; two white bands on the wing; the greater 

 part of the three outer tail feathers white. 



Length, 5; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.30. 



Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 



DENDROICA VIGORSII (Audubon). (671.) 

 PINE WARBLER. 



This seems to be a rather uncommon species, first obtained 

 by Mr. Geo. McMullen of Minneapolis, on May 10th, 1876, 

 since which time it has been collected by several different per- 

 sons who have submitted them to me for examination. 



I have found that they arrive much earlier than the date 

 mentioned, having brought them to the basket as early as the 

 10th of April, although the average should be placed about 

 the 20th. 



They breed in the quiet pine forests, their nests being 

 usually on small sized pines, and about twenty feet from the 

 ground. It is not strange that they seem quite rare even 

 though there may be a good many in the country, when their 

 solitary habits in breeding exclude them so effectually from 

 observation, The nests might escape the most vigorous 

 scrutiny, so well is it and both of the birds concealed in the 

 dense evergreen foliage. They consist of strips of bark prob- 

 ably from off the cedar trees, and pine leaves, or needles in- 

 geniously woven, or twisted into each other so as to effect a 

 firm, compact, and tasteful structure. It is delicately lined 

 with mosses and different kinds of hair. Amongst a pretty 

 large collection of nests, those of this species are character- 



