SYLVICOLID^E — THE WARBLERS. 187 



Species. 



Common Characters. Colors plain. Above olivaceous, beneath nearly white. 

 No spots or bands on wing or tail. 



H. vermivorus. Above olive-green. Head yellowish, with a black stripe 

 aiDOve and one behind each eye. Tail rounded. Hah. Eastern Province of 

 United States ; south to Costa Rica ; Cuba. (Helmitherus.) 

 H. swainsoni. Above dull olive-green, tinged with brown. Stripes on 

 tlie head somewhat as in the last, but reddish-brown ; the median light 

 stripe on the crown scarcely visible. Tail slightly forked. Hab. South 

 Carolina and Georgia ; Cuba (very rare). (Ilelinaia.) 



Helmitherus vermivorus, Bonap. 



WORM-EATING SWAMP WARBLER. 



Motacilla vermivora, Gmel. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 951. ? Sijlvia vcrmivora, L.ATH. Ind. Orn. 

 II, 1790, 499. — WiLS. Ill, pi. x.xiv, fig. 4. — Aud. Orn. Biog. I, pi. xxxiv. Sylvicola 

 vcrmivora. Rich. Helinaia. vermivora, Aud. Bh'ds Am. II, pi. cv. — Lembeye, Av. Cuba, 

 1850, 35, pi. vi, fig. 4. Hclmitlierus vermivorus, Bon. ; Cab. ; Baird, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 252; Rev. 179. — Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 363 (Xalapa). — Ib. Catal. 1861, 28, 

 no. 175. —Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, I, 1859, 11 (Guatemala); Cab. Jour. 1860, 329 

 (Costa Rica); Ib. 1856 (Cuba). — Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; somewhat 

 rare). Vcrmivora pennsylvanica, Bon., Gosse, B. Jamaica, 1847, 150. Helmitherus 

 m,igratorms, Raf. J. de Phys. 88, 1819, 417. — Hartlaub ; Vermivora fulvicainlla, 

 Swainson, Birds, II, 1837, 245. 



Sp. Char. Bill nearly as long as the head ; upper parts generally rather clear olive- 

 green. Head with four black stripes and three brownish-yellow ones, namely, a black one 

 on each side of the crown and one from behind the eye (extending, in fact, a little anterior 

 to it), a broader median yellow one on the crown, and a superciliary from the bill. Under 

 parts pale brownish-yellow, tinged with buff across the breast and with olivaceous on the 

 sides. Tail unspotted. Female nearly similar. Length, 5.50 ; wing, 3.00 ; tail, 2.35. 



In autumnal specimens the light stripes on the head are deeper buff than in spring. 



Hab. Eastern Province of United States (rather Southern) ; Southeastern Mexico; Gua- 

 temala; Cuba; Costa Rica; Veragua; Orizaba (winter, Sumichrast); Yucatan (Lawrence). 



Habits. Much remains to be ascertained in regard to the history, habits, and 

 distribution of this interesting species. So far as is now known it is hardly 

 anywhere very common during the breeding-season. Yet its abundance and 

 wide distribution as a migrant during the winter months in various extended 

 localities appear to warrant the belief that it must be correspondingly abun- 

 dant in summer in localities that have escaped our attention. It has been oc- 

 casionally met with in the Central and Southern States, as far west as Eastern 

 Mexico, and as far to the north as Southeastern New York. Specimens have 

 been procured from Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and the northern portions 

 of South America. It is a regular winter visitant of Jamaica, whither it goes 

 in the autumn in considerable numbers, and is very widely diffused. 



It reaches Pennsylvania about the middle of May, and leaves in Septem- 

 ber. Wilson noticed a pair feeding their young about the 25th of June. 



