Notes on the Birds. 379 
again. Then they separated, one of them flying in a slow fluttering sort 
of way across the open space to an old snag in which the female was build- 
ing the nest. With wings bent downward and tail outspread so as to show 
plainly the white outer feathers, he would give expression to his happiness 
in an excited but pleasing little song which I wish I could describe, were 
I good at that sort of thing. Then he perched upon a limb just above my 
head, where, with dropping, tremulous wings, and head erect, he warbled 
very prettily his delicate little song of love, oblivious of all except of her 
who was so busy at the old willow snag. Although she seemed very busy 
indeed, she doubtless heard the little song and understood full well its sub- 
tle meaning. 
I again visited this swamp, May 21, 1885. Several Golden Swamp Warb- 
lers or Prothonotarias were seen chasing about, across and around the open 
spaces among the trees that stood in water one to three feet deep. The 
season was evidently later than it was in 1883. Several nests were found 
but laying had not yet begun. The males were in full song and a very 
pretty sight they made. 
The nests, examined critically on my first visit, were, as already stated, 
always occupied deserted sapsucker or similar holes usually in small rotten 
trees, saplings or snags, and yaried from four to ten feet above the water. 
One examined was about six feet up in a very rotten snag not over four 
inches in diameter. The shell left by the excavation of the hole was very 
thin, less than half an inch. The cavity was but four inches Geep ana was 
filled nearly to the top by the nest which was composed almost entirely 
of some species of moss. Several other nests situated in similar places and 
constructed from similar materials were seen. 
178. HELMITHEROS VERMIVORUS (Gmelin). WORM-EATING WARBLER. (639) 
Common summer resident in Monroe and Vigo counties; not noted in 
Carroll. Nests on the ground. I have seen nests in the woods east of Terre 
Haute, also near Coal Creek northwest of that city. April 20, 1887, nest 
with three eggs at Pine Hills, Montgomery County. On April 28, 1888, I 
collected a fine specimen about five miles southwest of Terre Haute. 
On May 4, 1886, I collected a pair about two miles northeast of Bloom- 
ington. The first (a male) was in a thicket on a hillside near an old road. 
When first seen it was near the ground, then it flew into a bush about eight 
feet up. About a half mile further north I obtained a female. When first 
seen it was on the ground at the bottom of a small canon. Besides these 
two, several others were observed on the same day. One pair seen building 
a nest at the foot of a small maple sprout on a hillside facing west. The 
nest was not nearly completed. One of the birds. probably the female, was 
carrying dead leaves with which she made the bottom and outside walls. 
She would come near the nest while I was sitting within 20 feet of it, eye 
me suspiciously, fly away some distance, return by short flights, then fly 
away again, only to repeat the maneuvers again until I moved farther 
away, then she came to the nest and proceeded with the building. 
On May 13, I found a nest with five eggs plus two of the cowbird. Prof. 
W. S. Blatchley found a nest with six eggs of the warbler and one cowbird. 
Both of these nests were on a hillside and each was at the base of a small 
shrub. All the eggs were fresh. 
