NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 455 



active in catching insects on the wing in the manner of the true Flycatchers. It 

 frequents thickets and undergrowth of high and low lands, where it skillfully 

 conceals itself when pursued. It has a peculiarly graceful manner of closing and 

 spreading its broad tail, like the Redstart. The nest of the Hooded Warbler Is built 

 in the low bushes of undergrowth usually within a few inches or foot of the ground. 

 It is composed of leaves, shreds of bark, and scales of beech buds, all compactly 

 woven and secured together with spider webs; the lining in some nests is entirely 

 horse or cattle hair, others are found lined with fibres of grape-vine bark, or mixed 

 with both. The eggs are four in number, rarely five. The usual ground-color is 

 white, or creamy-white, and the markings are generally specks and spots of chest- 

 nut or burnt umber and lilac-gray, principally near the larger end, and often forming 

 wreaths. The average size of twenty specimens is .71x.52 inches. 



685. WILSON'S WARBLER. Sylvania pusilla (Wils.) Geog. Diet. Eastern 

 North America, west to and including the Rocky Mountains, and to the coast of 

 Bering Sea. Breeds from northern border of United States and higher Rocky 

 Mountains northward. South in winter through Eastern Mexico and Central 

 America. 



The Green Black-capped Flycatching Warbler, or Wilson's Black-capped Warb- 

 ler, breeds from the northern border of the United States northward, chiefly, however, 

 in the higher latitudes. Mr. H. D. Minot found a nest of this bird containing five 

 fresh eggs, on June 22, at Seven Lakes, on Pike's Peak, Colorado. The nest was 

 found on the ground, under a low, spreading branch of a dwarf willow, at the edge of 

 a swamp.* The eggs of this species are four or five, sometimes six in number. A 

 set of five in Mr. Norris' cabinet was taken June 15, 1887, in Boulder county, Col- 

 orado. The nest was well imbedded in the ground among some willow twigs, and 

 was composed of leaves and swamp grass externally, lined with fine grasses and a few 

 nairs. The eggs are white, speckled with cinnamon-rufous and lavender-gray. 

 Nearly all the markings are near the larger ends, where they form wreaths. Their 

 respective measurements are ,59x.49, .60x.49, ,60x.48, .58x.48, .60x.48. 



685a. PILEOLATED WARBLER. Sylvania pttsilla pileolata (Pall.) Geog. 

 Dist. Western North America chiefly along or near Pacific coast, north to Kadiak 

 Island, Alaska, south in winter through Western Mexico to Costa Rica. 



The Western Black-capped Flycatching Warbler is a common breeding bird in 

 various sections on the Pacific coast from Southern California northward. Mr. W. 

 Otto Emerson states that in the vicinity of Haywards, California, he has taken eggs 

 as early as April 22, and full-fledged young were observed by May 17. The birds nest 

 in the thickets along water courses, and rear at least two broods in a season. Prof. 

 Evermann found a nest near San Buenaventura, California, on May 23, 1881, placed 

 about a foot from the ground, in a clump of blackberry bushes. Dr. Merrill notes 

 that the bird breeds in considerable numbers in the swampy willow thickets along 

 Wood River and Fort Creek, in the region of Fort Klamath, Oregon. The nest is 

 composed of leaves, bark strips, weed stems, vegetable fibres, rootlets, lined with 

 finer grasses. Often it is made entirely of leaves and lined with fibrous roots. It 

 is placed in bushes from one to four feet above the ground. The eggs are four in 

 number, white or creamy-wnite, speckled with reddish-brown and lilac-gray; in 

 some specimens these markings are in the form of a wreath near the larger ends. 



* See foot note in New England Bird Life, Vol. T, pp. 172-173. 



