MOURNING WARBLER. 377 



HAB. Eastern North America, breeding north of the United States. 



Nest, sunk in the ground level with the surface, composed entirely of 

 dry grass. 



Eggs, four, creamy-white, a few spots of lilac-brown and black, inclining to 

 form a ring round the larger end. 



The Connecticut Warbler was discovered by Wilson, and named 

 by him after the State in which he found it. It is a widely dis- 

 tributed species, but is nowhere abundant, though it seems to be 

 more common in the west than in the eastern portion of its habitat. 

 It is of shy, retiring habits, frequenting low, swampy places and 

 keeping near the ground. 



'On one or two occasions I have met with the adults in spring, 

 and have seen them again in the fall, accompanied by their young. 

 In their haunts and habits they closely resemble the Mourning 

 Warbler, and in certain stages of plumage they are also like the 

 latter in appearance, but the present species can always be recog- 

 nized by its wings, which are longer and more pointed. 



This species undoubtedly breeds in Ontario, and as the nest and 

 eggs are still unknown to naturalists, they are a prize which our 

 Canadian boys should try to secure. I found the young in August, 

 and they certainly looked as if they had not travelled far. 



Since the above was written, the nest of this species has been 

 found at Duck Mountain, in Manitoba, by Mr. Ernest E. Thompson, 

 who in the Auk, for April, 1884, gives an interesting account of the 

 occurrence which happened on June 21st, 1883. The life history of 

 this graceful species has so long continued in obscurity, that it was 

 with exceptional pleasure Mr. Thompson found himself enabled to 

 cast light upon several of the most important of its habits. He 

 had the good fortune to find the nest, the first of its kind known to 

 science, and it was subsequently sent to the Smithsonian Institute, 

 where the identification was confirmed, and the nest finally deposited. 



GEOTHLYPIS PHILADELPHIA (WiLs.). 

 286. Mourning Warbler. (679) 



Bright olive ; below, clear yellow ; on the head, the olive passes insensibly 

 into ash ; in high plumage, the throat and breast are black, but are generally 

 ash, showing black traces, the feathers being black, skirted with ash, producing 

 a peculiar appearance, suggestive of the birds wearing crape; wings and tail, 

 unmarked, glossed with olive; under mandible and feet, flesh color; no white 



