lo6 2VESTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 



white, with a high polish. Eggs from different sets vary considerably 

 in markings, but two types of coloration seem to prevail. In one, spots 

 and dottings of dull brown with faint submarkings of pale lavender are 

 generally and evenly distributed over the entire surface. In the other, 

 bold blotches of bright reddish-brown are so thickly laid on. especially 

 about the larger ends, that the ground-color is in some instances al- 

 most entirely obscured. (PI. IX. Fig. 59.) 



60. ^WORM-BATING WARBLER. 

 HELMINTHERUS VERMIVORUS (G;«.) Bf. 



The sliy worm-eater spreads itself in summer over the east- 

 ern United States south of New Engla)ui and west to Missouri 

 and Kansas, being most abundant in tiie valleys of the Alle- 

 ghanies, where well-shaded brooks wind their way l)et\veen 

 the thickets. 



As in the two preceding cases, Audubon erred in his descrip- 

 tion of the nidification of this warbler. The nest is not placed in 

 bushes but on the ground, occupying a hollow on some hillside 

 much like the nest of the oven-bird (^Siitrus), and, like that, 

 concealed by the twigs and dead leaves strewn about. The 

 structure itself is only a clumsy conglomeration of dead leaves 

 and other materials to be had close by, lined with pine-needles, 

 the fine thread-like stalks of the hair-moss, or similar soft and 

 flexible substances. These nests are embedded below the level 

 of the surface of the ground and are easily passed over by the 

 sharpest eyes, unless the female, forced fi'om her sitting, acci- 

 dentally betrays the position at your very feet. In the latitude 

 of Philadelphia the eggs are laid about June, or a little later; 

 while Mr. Eugene Bicknell, who informs me that he has known 

 of many pairs nesting at Riverdale in the northern edge of 

 New York City, gives June 5-10 as the proper time to seek for 

 fresh eggs. 



The eggs are elliptical and crystal-white, spotted (in varying 

 profusion in diflerent specimens) with minute dottings of a 

 bright red-brown ; at the larger end these dots are crowded, and 

 mmgled with cloudings of lilac-brown. They are large, meas- 



