150 CoNTRIBtJTlONS FROM THE CHARLESTON MuSEUM. 



ure ,79 X .62 ; .78 X .59 ; .79 X .59 ; .74 X .59 . I have taken eggs which 

 contained small embryos as early as April 28, but this is an ex- 

 ceptionally early date, since the birds usually have full com- 

 plements of eggs on May 7-8. Two broods are raised, for I have 

 taken eggs as late as July 6 . 



The nest is composed of dead leaves, principally those of the 

 sweet gum, water oak, maple, and cane, and is generally lined 

 with pine needles or cypress leaves, but in some cases the black 

 fiber of the Spanish moss is used. It is placed in low bushes, 

 canes, palmettos, and occasionally in thorny vines, and varies 

 from two to ten feet above the ground or water. I have taken 

 young birds which were as large as the adults and which were ac- 

 quiring their autumnal plumage as early as June 2, but it must 

 be borne in mind that the season in which these young were taken 

 (1906) was exceptionally advanced. 



Swainson's Warbler inhabits only deep, dark, and gloomy 

 swamps where there are extensive tracts of canes and impene- 

 trable thickets with a growth of aquatic plants. If a swamp is 

 densely covered with canes and there are no thickets, the birds 

 are absent in the breeding season, for these thickets are indispen- 

 sable to them because they afford protection to the young. 



My earliest date of arrival is April 9, and I have taken specimens 

 as late as September 25 ; the birds therefore remain for more than 

 five months. The song period lasts from their arrival until 

 September 15. There is no species of warbler with which I am 

 acquainted that sings with such fervor as this one. Its notes 

 are full of sweetness and at times it is really inspiring. This 

 song, however, is not characteristic of all the males, for I have 

 heard it only on a few occasions; but on September 15, 1887, one 

 sang as sweetly as in the breeding season. 



Swainson's Warbler breeds from northern Florida (Wayne) 

 to the Dismal Swamp, Virginia (Fisher), and northward in the 

 Mississippi Valley to southeastern Missouri (Widmann). It 

 winters in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Jamaica. Although this 

 species is supposed to breed only along the low coast region, it 

 has been found breeding at Winnsboro, where, in 1905, a nest 

 and three eggs were taken by Mr. R. Henry Phillips. It also 

 breeds abundantly at Augusta, Georgia — Dr. Eugene Edmund 

 Murphey having taken many birds as well as the eggs. A single 



