258 SINGING BIRDS. 



Dr. Bachman, these birds breed in South Carolina, as he saw a 

 pair and their young near Charleston. 



This species is common in the Gulf States, and ranges along the 

 Mississippi valley, being peculiarly abundant in southern Illinois 

 and southwestern Indiana, but near the Atlantic is rarely seen 

 north of Georgia. A few stragglers have been encountered in 

 New England, while one has been taken at St. Stephen, New 

 Brunswick, by Mr. George A. Boardman, and another near Hamil- 

 ton, Ontario, by H. C. Mcllwraith. 



It is said to be more deliberate and thrushlike in its movements 

 than are its sprightly congeners, the DendroiccB. The song most 

 frequently heard is described as a simple but pleasing whistle, like 

 that of the solitary Sandpiper, though when the singer is near at 

 hand, almost startling in its intensity. Mr. Brewster mentions 

 hearing another song delivered on the wing, and intended for the 

 ear of the mate alone. It is generally heard only after incubation 

 has commenced, and is low, but very sweet, and resembles some- 

 what the song of a Canary, delivered in an undertone. 



BLUE-WINGED WARBLER. 



Helminthophila pinus. 



Char. Male: above, bright olive; wings and tail dull blue; wings 

 with two yellowish bars ; outer tail feathers with white blotches ; black 

 line through the eye'; crown and under parts bright yellow. Female: 

 similar but under parts duller, and yellow on head restricted to forehead. 

 Length about 5 inches. 



Nest. In a tuft of grass amid thicket of underbrush or along margin of 

 woods ; bulky, and loosely made of dried leaves and vegetable fibre, lined 

 with fine grass. 



^gg^- 4-5; white, faintly speckled with brown; 0.60 X 0.50. 



About the beginning of May this species enters Pennsylvania 

 from the South, and frequents thickets and shrubberies in quest 

 of the usual insect food of its tribe. At the approach of win- 

 ter, very different from the Pine Warbler, with which it has 

 sometimes been confounded, it retires to pass the winter in 

 tropical America, having been seen around Vera Cruz in 

 autumn by Mr. Bullock. On its arrival it frequents gardens, 

 orchards, and willow trees, gleaning among the blossoms, but 

 at length withdraws into the silent woods remote, from the 



