1050 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



ground. Eggs, 4-5; white, creamy-white or bluish-white, marked 

 often about larger end with wreath of dark brown spots; .68 by .52. 



The Myrtle Warbler is an abundant migrant, generally found in 

 flocks, and is an irregular winter resident north to Brookville, Greens- 

 burg and Bloomington. The winters of 1882-3, 1886-7, 1891-2, 1894-5 

 they remained at Brookville, and, in addition, at Greensburg the winter 

 of 1896-7 (Shannon), and at Bloomington the winter of 1885-6 (Ever- 

 mann). Their winter range does not seem to be limited by the 

 degree of cold, for some of our colder winters, when the thermometer 

 registers below zero, they remain, and warmer winters are not ob- 

 served. In winter they seek the protection of ravines, where thickets 

 are, and of evergreens, even about residences and in towns. There 

 they remain very close through the colder months. In February or 

 March, as soon as a succession of warm days appears, they begin to 

 move about to some extent, over the area of winter residence. I have 

 never found one of them before April, where they did not sometimes 

 winter. As the weather gets warmer, the numbers continue to in- 

 crease up to the line of winter residence, possibly by reason of those 

 a little farther south pushing north. Then in late March and early 

 April they frequent the thickets fringing our streams. The migra- 

 tions are very uniform. They do not really occur outside their winter 

 homes until a number of other Warblers 'have arrived in southern 

 Indiana, but every year they occur about the same time, and they 

 usually move forward and possess the land at once; two, or at most a 

 few days, sufficing to cover the State. One year is pretty much a 

 repetition of others, and reference to 1897 will illustrate that point. 

 They were first seen at Richmond, just beyond the known winter 

 range, April 22. April 24 they appeared at Anderson, Carmel, 

 Lafayette and Chicago, 111., and April 25 they reached Petersburg, 

 Mich. The dates next given are earliest and latest record of first 

 arrivals: Greensburg, April 13, 1896, April 28, 1885; Greencastle, 

 April 13, 1894; Richmond, April 22, 1897, April 29, 1890; Wabash, 

 April 15, 1892, April 17, 1894; Lafayette, April 24, 1897, April 26, 

 1892; Sedan, April 24, 1894, April 29, 1897; Laporte, April 15, 1894, 

 April 18, 1896; Chicago, 111., April 12, 1884, April 27, 1897; Peters- 

 burg, Mich., April 21, 1889, May 1, 1893. 



When they arrive in force, they are found in almost all kinds of 

 places, even in the dense woodland, high up in the trees, where they 

 were not before found. 



"Their song," Mr. Ridgway says, "is somewhat like that of the 

 Yellow Warbler, but is more of a warble and sweeter in tone. Their 

 loud tcJiip and plain yellow markings, especially the yellow rump, 



