246 NORTH AMKKICAN 151 HIK^. 



l>y possessiiiLj a trace, or a distinct stripe, of chestnut on the flanks, the 

 voiini; female at least lackin<4 it. 



Habits. The ^eom-aphical distrilmtidn of tin's common s])ecies durinj^' its 

 season of rejimduction is inferretl rather than jmsitively known. So far 

 as I am aware, it is not known to hreed farther south than Massachusetts. 

 Vet it is prohahle that, when wc know its history more exactly, it will he 

 fouuil durinu tlie hreedin^^-season in dift'erent suitahlc localities from IVnn- 

 sylvania to Canada. Mr. H. \V. I'ark'V, «>f (Irinnell, Iowa, mentions this 

 bird as common in that nei<.;hl»orho<id. 



I'ntil recently it Mas regarded as a rather rare s]>ecies, and to a larj^e ex- 

 tent it had escaped the notice of our (dder ornithological writers. Wilson 

 could liive hut little account of its hahits. It ]>assed rajtidly hy him in its 

 sprinj^^ niijjjrations. He did not regard it as common, ]>resumed tluit it has 

 no sonii, and r.earlv all that he savs in re<:ard to it is conjectural. ^Ir. An- 

 dul)on met with this sju'cies hut once, and knew nothing as to its liahits 

 or distribution. ^Ir. Xuttall, who oltscrxed it in Massachusetts, where it is 

 now known to bt; not uncommon in certain localities, also regarded it as very 

 rare. His account of it is somewhat hyjxjtluitical and inexact. Its song he 

 very accurately describes as similar to that of the /). (fstira, oid\ less of a 

 whistle and somewhat louder. He re]>resents it as ex] tressed by fsh-fsh-tsh- 

 tsln/i(i, given at intervals itf half a minute, and often answered by its mate 

 from her nest. Its lay is eharacterized as simj)le and lively. Late in June, 

 lS.Sl,lie observed a ]>air collecting food lor their young on the margin of the 

 Fresh pond swamps in Cambridge. 



Mr. Allen has found this species cjuite conniion in Western ^lassachusetts, 

 arriving there about tlie !>tii of May, and remaining through the summer to 

 breed. He states — and his observations in this resjtect corresjiond with my 

 own — that during the breeding-season they freijuent low woods and swam])V 

 thickets, nesting in bushes, and adds that they are rarely found among high 

 trees. Thev leave there earlv in September. 



rrofess(»r Verrill found this AVarbler a common summer visitant in West- 

 ern ]\Iaine, arriving ;d>out tiu* second week in May, and remaining there to 

 breed. Mr. lioaidman thinks it reacli 's Eastern Elaine about tlie middle 

 of May, and is a common summer resident. I did not meet this species 

 either in New Ihunswick or Nova Scotia, nor wjis I)r. Bryant more for- 

 tunate, but Lieutenant lUand gives it in his manuscript list of the birds 

 found in the neighborhood t)f Halifax. 



Mr. iJidgway informs me that tliis species breeds in the oak o]K'nings and 

 amoTig the ]>rairie thickets of Soutliein Illinois, 



During the eight months that are n(»t included in tlieir season of repro- 

 duction, this s]>ecies is scattered over a vide extent of territory. Their 

 earliest a])j»earance in the Northern States fat riattesmouth) is Ajtril 2(',anu 

 they all disa]>pear early in Sej)tend>(^r. At other times they have been met 

 \vith in the Bahamas, in Mexico, (Juatemala, Costa liica,and Panama. It has 



