46 



NESTS AND EGGS OF N. A. BIRDS. 



When the cavity is shallow, it is often only scantily lined with 

 moss and a few fine roots. *»* 



One of the finest specimens before me is composed of moss, dry 

 leaves, and cypress-twigs. *** 



Out of fifteen sets of eggs taken, two included seven eggs ; three, 

 six; three, five; four, four; two, three; and one, one egg. The 

 average number is probably five or six. Seventeen specimens be- 

 fore me agree pretty well in size and general shape, nearly all be- 

 ing noticeably blunted at the smaller end. Two selected as ex- 

 treme examples measure respectively .73 by .59 and .67 by .58. 

 The ground-color is clear, lustrous 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 dot- 

 tings 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 almost entirely obscured." t 



76. HELON^A SWAINSONI. 



SWAINSON'S WARBLER. ** 



77. HELMINTHOTHERUS VERMIVORUS. 



. WORM-EATING WARBLER. 



Habitat, Eastern Provinces of United States (rather Southern); 

 Southeastern Mexico; Guatemala; Cuba. 



Two of the eggs of this warbler thus identified by Mr. Jack- 

 son, 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 beautiful- 

 ly intermingled with cloudings of lilac-brown. These eggs meas- 

 ure, the one, .yS 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 



tWm. Brewster on the Prothonotary Warbler : Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club., Oct., 1878, pp. 153-162. 



