278 NOUTII AMEKR'AN lUnDS. 



pl(infii(iinriim. He describes tlie ejjfj^s as luiviiijr a white ground, sliar]) at one 

 end, and marked witli sjK)ts of lilae-i)ur})le and of two shades nf brown, 

 more numerous at the hirger end, wliere they formed a ring. He s])eaks of 

 their note as slender, and noticed tlieir arrival about the second week of 

 May, leaving the middle of Heptendjer. 



At another time Mr. Nuttall was attracted bv the slender, filiuLT notes of 

 this bird, resembling the suppressed syllables 'tf<h-tf>]i-tsh-ts}u'n, beginning 

 low and gradually growing louder. ^Vith its mate it was busily engaged 

 collecting tlies and larva.' about a clump of locust-trees in Blount Auburn. 

 Their nest was near, and the female, without any jtrecautions, went directly 

 to it. Mr. Xuttall removed two eggs, which he afterwards rejJaced. E '>• 

 time, on his withdrawal, she returned to the nest, and resorted to no expedi- 

 ents to entice him awav. 



Several nests of this AVaibler have been obtained bv Mr. Welch in Lynn. 

 One was built on a wild rose, only a few feet from the ground. It is a snug, 

 compact, and elaborately woven structure, having a height and a diameter of 

 about two and a half inches. The cavity is two inches wide and one and a 

 half deep. The materials of which the (»uter })arts are woven are chiefly the 

 soft inner bark of small shrubs, mingled with dry rose-leaves, bits of vege- 

 tables, wood, wot)dy til)res, decayed stems of ])lant.«, spiders' webs, etc. The 

 whole is bound together like a web bv cotton-like fibres of a vegetable ori- 

 gin. The upper rim of this nest is a marked feature, being a strongly inter- 

 laced weaving of vegetable roots and strips of bark. The lining of the nest 

 is composed of fine vegetable fibres and a few horse-hairs. This nest, in its 

 general mode of construction, resembles all that I have seen ; only in others 

 the materials vary, — in some dead and decayed leaves, in others renuuns 

 of old cocoons, and in others the pa]>pus of composite plants, being more 

 prominent than the fine strips of bark. The nests are usually within four 

 feet of the ground. The eggs vary fron> three to five, and even si.\. 



The late Dr. Gerhardt found this bird the most conunon Warbler in Nor- 

 thern Georgia. There its nests were similar in size, structure, and i)osition, 

 but differed more or less in the niaterials of which they were made. The 

 nests were a trifle larger and the walls thinner, the cavities being corresi)ond- 

 ingly larger. The materials were more invariably fine strips of inner bark 

 and flax-like vegetable fibres, and were lined with the finest stems of jdants, 

 in one case witii the feathers of the (Jreat Horned Owl. Hi that neighbor- 

 hood the eggs were deposited by the loth of ]May. 



In Massachusetts the Prairie Warbler invariably selects wild pasture-land, 

 often not far from villages, and always open or very thinly wooded. In 

 Georgia their nests were built in almost every kind of l)ush or low tree, or 

 on the lower limbs of post-oaks, at the height of from four to seven feet. 

 Eggs were found once as early as the 2d of May, and once as late as the 10th 

 of June. The birds arrived there by the lUtli of April, and seemed to 

 prefer hillsides, but were found in almost any open locality. 



