126 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



woods, at an elevation of two feet above the ground. 

 It was composed almost wholly of fine plant-stems, 

 slender grasses, and a modicum of mosses, and 

 was lined interiorly with finer stems, and black 

 herbaceous rootlets. It measured three and a half 

 inches in diameter, and one and a half in depth, 

 with a cavity one inch deep and two and a half 

 inches in diameter. 



The eggs are rounded-oval in form, being more 

 pointed at one end than the other, a light ashen 

 hue or dull white on the background, and finely 

 dotted and blotched with light-brown ; these mark- 

 ings being chiefly grouped about the larger end. 



This bird has been found breeding by R. Deane, 

 Esq, of Cambridge, near Lake Umbagog. The 

 nest was placed about three feet from the soil in 

 the fork of a low spruce, and consisted externally 

 of spruce twigs, rootlets and dry grasses, and was 

 lined with fine black roots. The eggs were de- 

 scribed as spherical, creamy-white, and marked 

 with a few large blotches of umber and lilac. 



The female is said by Audubon to manifest great 

 distress which is exhibited by fluttering among the 

 branches with expanded tail and wings, when her 

 nest is assailed. According to Dr. Brewer, they 

 also evince much sympathy when the nests of 

 other species are disturbed. He instances a case 

 where the outcries of a pair of the Hudson's Bay 

 Titmice, brought a pair of these Warblers to 

 their aid, which displayed fully as much anxiety 

 as the real parents. 



