SYLVICOLID.« — THE WARBLERS. 269 



sippi. Dr. Woodliouse states tliat it is common in Texas and New ]\Iexico. 

 It was not, however, met with by any other of the government exploring 

 parties. Dr. Gerhardt found it quite common in Northern Georgia, where it 

 remains all the winter, and where it breeds very early in the season. On the 

 19th of April he found a nest of these birds with nearly full-grown young. 

 It has not been found in Maine by Professor Verrill nor by Mr. Boardman, 

 nor in Nova Scotia by Lieutenant Bland. Mr. Allen has found it breeding 

 abundantly in the western part of Massachusetts, where it is one of the 

 earliest Warblers to arrive, and where it remains until October. In 1861 

 tliey were abundant in the pine woods near Springfield as early as April 4, 

 although the ground at that time was covered with snow. During the last 

 weeks of April and the early part of May they frequent the open fields, 

 obtaining much of their food from the ground in company with B. pal- 

 marimi, the habits of which, at this time, it closely follows. Later in the 

 season they retire to the pine forests, where they remain almost exclusively 

 throughout the sunnner, chieHy on the tops of the tallest trees. For a few 

 weeks preceding the first of October they again come about the orchards and 

 fields. In its winter migrations it does not appear to leave this country, and 

 lias not been found in any of the West India Islands, in Mexico, nor in South 

 or Central America. It breeds sparingly in Southern Illinois. 



Mr. Jones found these birds numerous in Bermuda late in September, but 

 they all disappeared a few weeks later. Dr. Bryant found them at Inagua, 

 Bahamas. 



Wilson first noticed tliis Warbler in the pine woods of the Southern 

 States, where he found it resident all the year. He describes it as running 

 along the bark of pine-trees, though occasionally alighting and feeding on 

 the ground. When disturbed, it always flies up and clings to the trunks of 

 trees. The farther south, the more numerous he found it. Its principal food 

 is the seeds of the Southern pitch-pine and various kinds of insects. It was 

 associated in flocks of thirty in the depths of the pine barrens, easily recog- 

 nized by their manner of rising from the ground and alighting on the trunks 

 of trees. 



Audubon also speaks of this bird as the most abundant of its tribe. He 

 met with them on the sandy barrens of East Florida on the St. John's River 

 early in February, at which period they already had nests. In their habits 

 he regarded them as quite closely allied to the Creepers, ascending the 

 trunks and larger branches of trees, hopping along the bark searching for 

 concealed larvse. At one moment it moves sideways along a branch a few 

 steps, then stops and moves in another direction, carefully examining each 

 twig. It is active and restless, generally searching for insects among the 

 leaves and blossoms of the pine, or in the crevices of the bark, but occasion- 

 ally pursuing them on the wing. It is found exclusively in low lands, never 

 in mountainous districts, and chiefly near the sea. 



Its nest is usually placed at considerable height, sometimes fifty feet or 



