378 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



and it is composed of weed-stalks, grasses, rootlets and pine leaves, 

 lined with fine grasses and hair. The eggs, usually four in number, 

 are yellowish or bufFy- white, with a roseate tinge, speckled with brown 

 and lilac. Average size .65 x .51. 



673. Dendroica discolor (Vieill) [114.] 



Prairie Warbler. 



Hab. Eastern United States, north to Michigan and Southern New England; south in winter to 

 Florida, Bahamas and West Indies. 



The Prairie Warbler is a rather common breeding bird in many 

 localities east of the Alleghanies from the latitude of Massachusetts 

 southward ; west of this region it appears to be rare during the summer 

 months. It is known, however, to breed in Michigan and regularly (?) 

 in Northern Ohio, but I have no late authentic records to that effect 

 from the latter region. Mr. H. K. Jamison found the Prairie Warbler 

 breeding abundantly on the 13th of May, in a scrubby oak thicket 

 in Fairfax county, Virginia. The nests were placed from two to 

 seven feet above the ground. Dr. Coues found it nesting in as- 

 tonishing numbers within a small area, near Washington, D. C, in 

 the latter part of May. The nests were only a few feet from the 

 ground, and were placed preferably in hickory and dogwood bushes. 

 Mr. Worthington found it nesting in low bushes and also in small birch 

 and oak saplings on Shelter Island, New York, in the latter part of 

 May and first half of June. The nest is a very pretty, deeply cup- 

 shaped fabric, composed of vegetable fibres and fine grasses, closely 

 felted and lined with hair. 



Four, rarely five, eggs are laid. Twelve sets of these eggs are in 

 Mr. Norris' cabinet, many of which were taken by C. L- Rawson, in 

 New London county, Connecticut. Their ground-color appears white 

 until they are compared with pure white eggs, when a very faint tinge 

 of greenish is perceptible. The markings are specks of chestnut and 

 burnt-umber, and usually in the form of wreaths about the larger end. 

 Two sets taken, respectively, May 31, 1880, and June 14, 1888, near 

 Norwich, Connecticut, exhibit the following sizes: .59X.47, .64X.48, 

 .60 X .45, .63 X . 47 ; .68 X .50, .66 x .50, .67 x .47, .67 x .47. 



674. Seiurus aurocapillus (Linn.) [115.] 



Oven-bird. 



Hab. Eastern North America, breeding from about 3S° northward, west to eastern base of Rocky 

 Mountains. In winter, south to Southern Florida, West Indies and Central America. 



Called Oven-bird on account of the remarkable nest which it 

 usually builds. This, in its typical form, is roofed over, arched or 

 domed, with an entrance more or less to one side like the mouth of an 

 oven. It is placed on the ground, or rather embedded in a depression 



