OF NEW ENGLAND. 89 
motionless, in a manner closely resembling the Thrushes. If 
not further disturbed they immediately returned to the ground, 
* * *, If greatly startled they took a long flight among the 
bushes, and could rarely be found again.” 
(d). I have heard them utter only tsips and chirps whilst in 
their usual haunts, namely, swampy thickets, and shrubbery 
near them. I have never heard their song, nor read any de- 
scription of it. 
IV. HELMITHERUS 
(A) verRmivorus. Worm-eating Warbler. 
(Though found in Maine, this: species very rarely comes so 
far to the north-eastern part of the United States as to reach 
New England.) 
(a). About 53 inches long. Greenish-olive above. Head 
and under parts, buff. The head is marked with two dark 
stripes bordering the crown, and two running from the eyes to 
the back. 
(b). The nest is placed on or near the ground. The eggs 
are described as averaging about °70 X °55 of an inch, and 
being pure white, minutely spotted with reddish-brown, chiefly 
at the larger end, where lilac is intermixed. 
(c). The Worm-eating Warblers so seldom come to this 
State, that, I regret to say, I have never seen them here. 
The various accounts of their habits and notes which I have 
read are more or less conflicting and unsatisfactory ; but from 
them I have gathered that the Worm-eating Warblers inhabit 
both woodland and shrubbery, and usually feed on caterpillars 
and spiders, which they find on the ground, or ‘‘among the 
dead leaves of a broken branch,” being very nimble in secur- 
ing their prey. They are never gregarious, but, even during 
their migrations, travel alone or in pairs, sometimes, however, 
with their young in autumn. 
(d). Their notes are ‘‘a feeble chirp,” a “‘complaining call” 
26The closely allied Swainson’s Warbler (H. Swainsont) has been erroneously 
reported from Massachusetts. 
