SYLvrrouivE — tup: WAUBLEiis. 309 



Audubon states tliat in their miixratiuns they move from lni<li to busli by 

 (lay, and t're([uently continiui their nuirch by night. Tlieir flight at all times 

 is sliort and irreguhir. He also states tliat when on the ground they s(|unt 

 jerk their tails, spring on tlieir legs, and are ever in a state ot great activ- 

 ity. Although the existenee of this bird north of rennsylvania is generally 

 disputed, I have no doubt that it has always Ixien, and still is, a eonstant 

 visitor of Massachusetts, and has been found to witiiin a score of miles of 

 the New Hampshire line. Among my notes 1 tind that a nest was found 

 in Brookline, in 1852, by Mr. Theodore J.ynian ; in iJanvers, l)y Mr. l>yron 

 Goodale ; in Lynn, by ^lessrs. Vickary and Welch ; and in many other parts 

 of the State. It certainly breeds as far south as (leorgia on the coast, and 

 in Louisiana and Texas in the s«)Uthwest. On the I'acitic coast it is replaced 

 by the long-tailed variety, lonfj ice tula. 



A nest of this species from Concord, Mass., obtained by Mr. P.. 1'. ^Lann, 

 and no^v in the collection of the Boston Xatural History Society, has a 

 dianiete. of four inches and a height of three and a half. The cavity has a 

 depth of two and a quarter inches, and is two and a half wide. This is built 

 upon a base of coarse skeleton leaves,and is made of coarse sedges, dried 

 grasses, and stems of plants, and lined with long, dry, and wiry stems of 

 plants, resembling pine-needles. Another from TondVet, Conn., obtained by 

 Mr. Se.ssions, is a nuich larger nest, measuring tive inches in diameter and 

 three and three quarters in height. The cup is two tind a half inches deep 

 by three in width. It is made of an interweaving of leaves, Ixirk of the 

 grapevine, and stems of plants, and is lined with tine, long wiry sten\s and 

 pine-needles. 



Their eggs are of a slightly rounded oval shape, vary in length from .85 

 to .95 of an inch, and in breadth I'rom .05 to .70. They have a white ground 

 with a very slight tinge of yellow, and are marked with redilish-brcjwn and 

 a few^ fainter purplish and lilac spots. 



Icteria virens, var. longicauda, Lawk. 



LONG-TAILED CHAT. 



Idcria longicauda, Lawrknck, Ann. N. Y. Lvi-. VI, April, 18r»3, 4. — Baikd, Birds N. 

 Am. 1858, 245), pi. xxxiv, li*ij. 2; \\v\. 230. -SrL.vTKi:, Catal. 42, n*). 2r»:}. — FlNS( H, 

 Abh. Nat. IJnni. 1870, :{:31 (Mazatlan). — Cuopki:, Orn. fal. I, 187o, l>8. f Idcria 

 auru'olli^ {Lkht. Mus. Btrl.), Bun. Consj). 1850, 331. 



Sp. Char. Similar to var. riren.'i. Fourth (juill lonircst ; third and fifth shorter ; first 

 shorter than the seventh. Ahove ash-eolor, fingetl with olive on tln^ back and ne<'k ; the 

 outer surface of the winjrs and tail olive. The under ])arts as far as the middle of thehelly 

 bright gambopre-yellow. with a tinire of orange ; the remaining p<»rtion> white. The super- 

 ciliary and maxillaiy white stripes extend some distance behind the eye. Outer edge of 

 the first j)rimary white. Length. 7 in<-hes: wing, .'MiO ; tail, 3.70. 



Fo/(»»/ (8.841. Loup Fork of Platte, August '> ; F. V. Ilayden). Above light grayish- 



