SVLVirnLlD.K Till-: WAUIIi.KltS. ]^So 



of lusort. Tlu'V iilsn |)it'i"t'i'it'(l the holders of sheets ol" water to tlu' inleiior 

 nf the lori'st. Tliey return in s|»rin.:^' to the Soullicrn Stales early in Mareli, 

 hut to Kentueky not l>elore tlie last of April. Tlu'V leave in Octohi'r, and 

 raise hut a single hrood in a season. Autluhon deserihes their nest, hut it 

 it ditleiN so essentially tVoni their kn«)\vn ukkU' ot" hreedinii, that he was 

 evidently in error in regard to his supifosed identitieation of the nest ot" 

 this sjieeies. 



I)r. I»aehnian, who often met them on the horders of small streams near 

 Charleston, was eonlident that they hreed in that State, ami noticed ii pair 

 with ft»ur younijj hirds as early as Aiiur 1, in iS.Sd. 



IJeeently more lit;ht has heen thrown upon tiieir hahits hy Mr. !». F. 

 (loss, who, in May, 1S(»:5, found them hreediui; near Neosho Falls, in Kansas. 

 The nest was huilt within ;i Woodpee': rs hole in the stump of a tree^ 

 not more than three feet hii;h. TIm' nest was not rounded in sha])e, hut 

 made U) eonform to the irregular eavitv in whieh it was huilt. It was 

 of ohloni; shape, and its cavity was dee]>est, not in the centre, hut at one 

 end, upon a closely impacted hase made up of fragments of dried leaves, 

 hroken hits of i^rasses, stems, mosses, and lichens, decayed wood, and other 

 niJiterial, the uj>per ]»ortion consistiuLi of an interweavin;^ of fine roots of 

 wooded plants, \aryin,i; in si/.e, 'out all strong, wiry, and slender. It was 

 lined with hair. 



Other nests since discovered are of more uniform forms, circular in sha]>e, 

 and of coarser materials, and all are huilt with unusual slrennth and care for 

 a nest occui»vin!J a sheltered eavitv. 



In one instance their nest was huilt in a hraci'-hole within a mill, where 

 the liirds coidd he closely watched as they carried in the materials, and the 

 parent was afterward taken hy lunid hy Mr. (loss from its nest. It was 

 ([uite tame, and a]>]>roached within two yards of him. 



Since then Mr. Kidgway has ohtained a nest at Mt. Carmel, 111. It was 

 Imilt in a hoUow snag, ahout five feet from the ground, in the river hot- 

 tom. So far from heing noisv and v«>ciferous, as its n;;me would seem to 

 imi>lv, Mr. I{id«iw.»v descrihes it as one of the shvest and most silent of all 

 the AVarhlers. 



The eggs of this Warhler have an average hreadth of .."if) of an inch and a 

 length varying from A)'} to .7<' of an inch. They are of a rounded-oval form, 

 one end heing hut slightly less rouitletl than the other. Their ground-color 

 is a yellowish or creamy white, more or less ]trofusely marked over their 

 entire surface with lilac, ])urple, and a dark piirplish-hrown. 



jNIr. Kidgway states that it is always an ahundant summer hird in the 

 Wahash hottoms, where it inhahits jtriiicipally hushy swamps and the wil- 

 lows arouiul the horders of stagnant lagoons or " ponds " near the river, and 

 in such localities, in company with the White-hellied Swallow (Ifirtnnfn 

 hirofor), takes ]>ossession of the holes of the Downy Wotulpecker (Pirns 

 jHfhrsccns) and Chickadee (/V/■/^^' onvluK n.sis), in which to huild its nest. 



