108 LAND-BIRDS. 



(but are never pensile). The situations generally chosen are 

 the " scrub-lands," or open woods in low grounds containing 

 bushes, vines, etc. Near Boston they are usually finished, and 

 contain four or five fresh eggs, about the first of June. The 

 eggs average .68 X .50 of an inch, and are generally white 

 with purplish or reddish brown spots and blotches, which are 

 sometimes confluent. These markings are either scattered 

 over the egg, more thickly at the larger end than the other, 

 or are grouped in a ring about the crown. An egg of this 

 species in my collection is buff (darker than that of the Wood 

 Pewee) with a few lilac markings, but I have seen no others 

 like it. 



c. The Chestnut-sided Warblers are summer residents 

 throughout New England, but are much more abundant in the 

 southern parts than further to the northward. They reach 

 the neighborhood of Boston in the second week of May, and 

 pass the entire summer here. They are never gregarious, but 

 usually they are particularly common at the time of their 

 spring migrations, when they frequent considerably the shrub- 

 bery and trees of cultivated estates, before retiring to their 

 summer haunts. Their habits at this time have often reminded 

 me of those of the " Yellow-rumps," for they are often much 

 in the air, taking flights at quite a height from the ground, 

 that is, from thirty to sixty feet above it. At other times 

 they glean quietly among the foliage of the maples, and other 

 budding trees, generally among the lower branches. Occa- 

 sionally they perform a rapid and graceful movement through 

 the air to seize some passing insect, or stand like a Flycatcher 

 to watch the flies and gnats, which they now and then secure 

 by darting after them. They never seek their food upon the 

 ground, so far as I know, and only descend to it when picking 

 up materials for their nests. Their haunts in summer are 

 chiefly pasture lands, "scrub," and open, moist woodlands, 

 such as contain oaks, chestnuts, and maples, and an under- 

 growth of bushes, vines, and saplings. I have never met 

 these birds in thick or dark woods, and have but once seen 

 their nest placed in an evergreen, it being in that instance in a 

 low spruce by a brookside. It is to be remembered, however, 



