102G 



Report of State Geologist. 



155. Gknus HELMITHERUS Rafinesqub. 



*256. (f)39). " Helmitherus vermivorus (Gmel). 



Worm-eating Warbler. 



Head of Worin-eiiting Warbler. Natural size. 



Adult. — Head, black; a broad stripe through the middle of the 

 crown, and one stripe over the eye, buff; a black stripe from eye back- 

 ward; other upper parts, olive-green; wings, sometimes brownish; be- 

 low, buff, lighter on the throat, belly and crissum. Immature. — 

 More buffy below; head, with black more or less replaced with brown. 



Length, 5.00-5.75; wing, 2.65-2.90; tail, 1.90-2.20; bill, .60-.65; tar- 

 sus, .70. 



Eange. — Eastern North America, from Yucatan and West Indies 

 to Connecticut, Indiana and Nebraska; casually to Maine and Mich- 

 igan. Breeds throughout its United States range. Winters south of 

 United States. 



Nest, in woods, dense grown with underbrush, at foot of tree or 

 bush under overhanging bank, stone or root; made of dried leaves, 

 lined with (hair moss. Pa. and N. C.) grass, horsehair. Eggs, 4, 5, 6, 

 rarely 3; white or creamy- white, speckled and spotted, generally thick- 

 est at larger end, but not always, with chestnut, hazel, lavender-gray; 

 .68 by .55. 



The Worm-eating AVarbler not many years ago was considered a 

 rare bird in Indiana, but since its habits are better known it is found 

 to be over the southern portion of the State, at least in suitable places, 

 a common summer resident. Its home is among the denser wood- 

 lands, especially in rough country, on hillsides and in ravines, where 

 "down timber" and underbrush is plentiful. In the Whitewater Val- 

 ley in such localities it is one of the most abundant woodland species. 

 No bird in its haunts exceeds it in numbers, unless it be the Oven 

 Bird (Seiurus aurocapillus). In the lower Wabash Valley it is com- 

 mon. Prof. B. W. Evermann notes it as not common in Monroe 

 County; rare in Vigo Coimty, and does not give it in his list of Birds 

 of Carroll County. He took a nest and three eggs at "Pine Hills," 

 in Montgomery County, May 30, 1887. It is not common in Brown 



