1034 REroKT OF State Geologist. 



until the set is complete. It is said generally to rear two broods a 

 season. The period of incubation is given at ten days to two weeks. 

 The male supplies tlie female with food, but alter the young ai'e 

 hatched it requires the combined efforts of both parents to keep them 

 supplied with food, generally insects. Mr. Loucks mentions one nest 

 that contained ten eggs, and thinks more than one bird must have 

 laid them. In the soutliem part of the State they sometimes have 

 full sets of eggs in April, but in its more northern homes it seldom 

 has a complement before late in jMay. Mr. Eobert Eidgway found a 

 nest and four fresh eggs neax Mt. Cai-mel, 111., April 27, 1878. May 

 13, 1891, Mr. H. W. McBride found no completed nests in Lagrange 

 County, Ind. May 2S, 1896, Mr. J. G. Parker, Jr., found two nests 

 containing young, and one with fresh eggs, along the Kankakee River, 

 near Kouts. May 31, 1885, Mr. Coale found nests containing fresh 

 eggs at Davis Station. At the same place, June 8, 1884, he found 

 four nest^ with eggs partly incubated, and a week kiter, Juno 15, he 

 found young out of the uests. 



The K)ealities they select for suninuT homes are of their own choos- 

 ing, and we do not underst<ind the rule they apply or the reason for 

 their choice. Often in one locality they are common, while another, 

 near by it, may be passed over and no Prothonotaries frequent it. 

 They are not usually known. The nninviting places they seek are not 

 comuuuily frequented by men other than naturalists, and the birds do 

 not wander from the precincts of their retreats. They may, therefore, 

 be very alnmdant in ;i swamp and be absolutely imknown to the in- 

 habitants of the neighboring fanns. "VMien the young can fly and 

 care for themselves, perliaps in July, they begin to become less notice- 

 able. Fewer and fewer their numbers grow, until finally the la*t have 

 passed away, retracing their steps of the preceding spring. The latest 

 record I have is September 3. 1884. when a bird of the year was taken 

 by Mr. Coale at Davis Station. 



154. Gkms HKLIXAIA Audubon. 



"^255. {(^SS). Helinaia swainsonii Aid. 



Swainson's Warbler. 



Adult. — Above, crown and nape, reddish-brown: vest of upper part*, 

 including >>ides of ncrk, olive: nnnp. wings and tail, tinged with 

 brownish: butfy or whitish stripe over the eye; below, creamy: sides, 

 olive, or grayish, yoiiiui. First PInniaiie. — Wings and tail, like adult, 

 but other upper parts, imluding crown and nape, also throat and 

 breast, dull cinnamon-brown. 



