563 WORM-EATINO WARRLEa. 



Color. Adult. Above, uniform, olivaceous green, with the top of tlie head black, but liaviiig a ii.tdi- 

 um and superciliary stripe of buff. Beneath, pale buff, becoming olivaceous on the sides and flanks. Under 

 tail coverts, olivaceous, margined with buff. Sides of head, buff with the lores and ear coverts darker. 

 Young, similar, but rather darker in shade, as are also the winter adults. Nestlings differ in being paler and 

 in having a reddish suffusion throughout, but the stripes on the head are clearly defined. Iris, brown, bill, 

 brown lighter at base of lower mandible. Feet, very pale brown. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Distinguished at once from all other warblers, by the plain color.? and stripes of buff uu the head. 

 Occurs in summer throughout Eastern United States, north to Southern New England, West to Eastern 

 Nebraska and Texas. Winters, sparingly in Florida and the Bahamas, but more abundantly in Cuba and 

 Jamaica. 



DIMBINSIONS. 



Length, 5.00 to 5.50; stretch, 8.10 toS.-iO; wing, 2-55 to2.G0; tail, 1.25 to L(>0; bill, .50 to .51 ; tarsus, 

 .60 to .65. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed in the ground, composed of dried grasses, leaves ,and fibrous roots. They are rather bulky 

 for the size of the bird. Eggs, four in number, rather elliptical in form, white in color, plentifully spotted 

 and dotted everywhere with reddish brown, but rather more thickly on the larger end. Dimensions, .55 by 

 .73 to .56 by .75. 



HABITS. 

 When I was okst'i'vino; birds at Williamsport, Peiiii. , in the spring of 1S7G, 1 lound 

 that the Worm-eating Warbler arrives about May 11 th. Here they were not common, and 

 had not begmi to sing, the only note being a iitint (diirp, uttered as they (dung to low 

 shrubs and herbage near the ground. Later in the month, I found them eonnuon at White 

 Deer Valley further down the Susquehanna, and had an e.xcellent opportunity of observ- 

 ing their habits. They keep near the ground when feedmg, only occasionally tlying up 

 among the lower branches of the larger trees. Here the males were in full song ; their 

 efforts in this direction are, however, not particularly musical, for their notes consist of a 

 few rather feebly given chirps wiiich remind one quite closely of the Cliipping Sparrow, 

 siven as the birds move leisurely about in search of food. I found .several nests, and all 

 were placed on the ground on the slopes of the hills, but never far up from the bottom of 

 the valley, and they were in ojjen sight, among the fallen leaves of the previous year, 

 without any attempt at concealment. The eggs were all deposited by the last week in 

 May, and in a few cases, I found well grown young by June 7th. The young appeiu- to 



acquire their wing feathers more quickly than do 

 most warblers, ^t is probaljle that they leave the 

 nests sooner. See figs. 82 and 8-3 ,in the first of 

 wliich, I give a life size figure of a l)ird about a week 

 old. At fig 83, may be seen a wing of a slightly 

 older specimen. The Worm-eating Warbler mi- 

 (^^^ grates south late in Agust. 



Fig^ 82. Young of Worm-eating ^ ^^'^^'^ found this plainly colored warbler ui.ou 



Warbler. several occasions in Eastern Florida, in winter, I 



