SYLVICOLID^E — THE WARBLERS. 



/ / 



])lumage, some not having changed by April to their summer costume. He 

 regarded them as constant residents of those islands. They had all paired 

 off by tlie middle of April. 



In the island of >St. Croix, Mr. Edward Newton observed these Warblers from 

 the 10th of September to the 27th of March. They were present on the island 

 about two thirds of the year, and while they were found were very common. 



In Jamaica, according to Mr. March, they are numerous throughout the 

 entire year, though less abundant during the summer months. They were 

 always plentiful in the gardens about the Mal^yighia glabra, capturing small 

 insects from the ripe fruit. 



Mr. Gosse, on the contrary, regarded it as only a winter visitant of that 

 island, appearing by tlie 18th of August, and disappearing by the 11th of 

 Axjril. He observed tliem among low bushes and herbaceous weeds, along 

 the roadside, near the ground, examining every stalk and twig for insects. 

 Others flew from bushes by the wayside to the middle of the road, where, 

 hovering in the air, a few feet from the ground, they seemed to be catching 

 small dipterous insects. Their stomachs were filled with fragments of insects. 



Wilson fomid tliem usually in open plains and thinly wooded tracts, search- 

 ing most leisurely among the foliage, carefully examining every leaf or blade 

 of grass for insects, uttering, at short intervals, a brief chirr.- They did not 

 appear to be easily alarmed, and he has known one of these birds to remain 

 lialf an hour at a time on the lower braucli of a tree, and allow him to ap- 

 proach the foot, without being in the least disturbed. He found their food 

 consisted of winged insects and small caterpillars. 



In 1858, Mr. John Cassin wrote me : " The Prairie Warbler certainly 

 breeds in New Jersey, near Philadelphia. I have seen it all summer for the 

 last twelve years, and have seen the young just able to fly, but never found 

 the nest. It has a very peculiar note, which I know as well as I do the Cat- 

 bird's, having often followed and searched it out. It frequents cedar-trees, 

 and I suspect breeds in and about them." 



Dr. Cones found the Prairie Warbler mostly a spring and autumn visitant 

 in the vicinity of Washington, being quite abundant during those seasons. 

 A few were observed to remain during the breeding-season. They arrive 

 earlier than most of this family of birds, or about the 20th of April. He 

 found them frequenting, almost exclusively, cedar-patches and pine-trees, and 

 speaks of their having very peculiar manners and notes. 



Both Wilson and Audubon were evidently at fault in their descriptions of 

 the nest and eggs. Tliese do not correspond with more recent and positive 

 observations. Its nest is never pensile. Mr. Nuttall's descriptions, on the 

 other hand, are made from his own observations, and are evidently correct. 

 He describes a nest that came under his observation as scarcely distinguish- 

 able from that of the D. astiva. It was not ]iensile, but fixed in a forked 

 branch, and ibrmed of strips of the inner l)ark of the red cedar, fibres of ascle- 

 pia, and caterpillars' silk, and tliickly lined with the down of the GnaphaliuTn 



