i88S.] CoUES, Nesting of the Prairie Warbler. J.05 



smaller and having the ground color above buffy-brovvn rather than 

 grayish-brown. All the lighter areas of the plumage (including crissum, 

 under wing-coverts and lining of wings) suffused with pinkish bulf. 



Dimensions (average of eight adults): wing, 3.04; tail, 2.46; tarsus, 

 0.79; culmen, 0.46; bill from nostril, 0.31 inch. 

 Habitat. Salem, Oregon. 



NESTING OF THE PRAIRIE WARBLER. {DEN- 



DROICA DISCOLOR) IN THE VICINITY 



OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 



BY ELLIOTT BAIRD COUES. 



Although common throughout the District of Columbia, this 

 beautiful little bird nests more abundantly in certain suitable 

 localities than in others. One of these breeding-places was dis- 

 covered by my friend, Mr. T. W. Richards, and myself last 

 spring, and I have pleasure in laying before the readers of 'The 

 Auk' the results of our joint observations. 



The locality is along the Potomac River, on the Virginia side, 

 about seven miles from the city, among some small hills from 

 which all the large trees have been cut away, and which are 

 now grown up to a thick scrub of hickory, dogwood, and 

 laurel {Kalmia latlfolia) ., with here and there a few young 

 pines and cedars. Here were found breeding within a small 

 area an astonishing number of the birds, perhaps more than fifty 

 pairs. On reaching the j^lace, they could be heard singing on 

 all sides, sometimes several at the same moment. Among them 

 were a few Yellow-breasted Chats {Icteria virens), but our 

 whole attention was directed to the Warblers. On our first 

 visit. May 32, we found one nest ; but on two subsequent visits, 

 a week later, many more than we cared to take were easily 

 found, with full sets of eggs. They were so numerous and so 

 readily discovered that to take all we desired was simply a mat- 

 ter of walking about in the bushes. The nests were only a few 

 feet from the ground, and were placed preferably in the hickory 

 and dogwood bushes. Only three nests were found in the young 

 pines, and one in a cedar bush. During the heat of the day the 



