SYLVICOLID.'E — THE WARBLERS. 189 



The same observing ornithologist informs me that this Warbler arrives in 

 Pennsylvania early in May, and makes the most solitary i)art of the woods 

 its home, outside of wliich it is rarely seen. True to its name, it is ever 

 busy hunting out and devouring the worms that lurk among the forest foli- 

 age, pursuing its avocation in silence, with the exception of a faint note 

 uttered occasionally. This sj)ecies is not as shy as many of our Warblers that 

 frequent the woods. Towards the latter part of May they commence con- 

 structing their nests. Mr. Jackson adds that the nest above referred to was 

 found on a thickly wooded hillside, a few yards above a running stream. So 

 neatly was it embedded in the ground and covered with dry leaves, that 

 discovery would have been impossilile had not the female betrayed its 

 position. Both birds exhibited tlie greatest alarm at his presence, but on 

 his retiring to a short distance the female returned to the nest, where she 

 was easily captured. The base and periphery of the nest were composed 

 of dry beech-leaves, wliile the inner lining was made of fine hair-mosses 

 (Poli/trichiion). 



In the latter part of June, 1871, Mr. Jackson found another nest of this 

 species, containing five young birds about half grown. He was seated on 

 a log, resting after a hard tramp, when a Worm-eating Warbler alighted near 

 him, having a large green worm in its beak. After at first manifesting m'ucli 

 uneasiness, and scolding as well as she could, she suddenly became silent and 

 flew to the ground. On his going to the spot botli parents flew from the 

 nest. It was in all respects, in regard to materials, manner of construction, 

 and situation, the exact counterpart of the other. Both were placed on steep, 

 wooded hillsides, facing the east. 



Two of the eggs of this Warbler thus identified by Mr. Jackson, and kindly 

 loaned to me by him, are of a somewhat rounded-oval shape, less obtuse at 

 one end. They have a clear, crystal-white ground, and are spotted with 

 minute dottings of a bright red-brown. These are much more numerous in 

 one than in the other, and in both are confluent at the larger end, where 

 they are beautifully intermingled with cloudings of lilac-brown. These eggs 

 measure, the one .78 by .60 of an inch ; the other, .70 by .56 of an inch. 



Another nest of this species, found by Mr. Joseph H. Batty of New York, 

 on the side of a hill near Montclair, N. J., was also built on the ground, in 

 a part of the woods where there was no underbrush, and was placed in a 

 slight hollow, with dry oak-leaves collected around it, and partly covering it. 

 The nest was made of dry leaves, and lined with grasses and fine roots. It 

 contained four eggs, alike in their marking, and corresponding exactly with 

 those obtained by Mr. Jackson. Mr. Batty nearly stepped on the bird with- 

 out her leaving the nest. 



Dr. Coues found the Worm-eating Warbler a rather uncommon summer 

 resident near Washington, breeding there but sparingly. It arrives there 

 during the first week in May, and remains until the third week in September. 

 He describes it as slow and sedate in its movements. 



