212 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



pillars. They also resort to the ground, and turn over the dried 

 leaves in quest of the same kind of food. They are unsuspecting, 

 and will suffer a person to approach within a few paces. When 

 disturbed, they fly off to some place where withered leaves are 

 seen. They have only a few weak notes, which do not deserve 

 the name of song. Their industry, however, atones for this defect, 

 as they are seen continually moving about, rustling among the 

 leaves, and scarcely ever removing from one situation to another, 

 until after they have made a full inspection of the part in which 

 they have been employed." 



The nest of this active little bird is formed of singular 

 materials, being composed externally of dried mosses and 

 the green blossoms of hickories and chestmit-trees, while 

 the interior is prettily lined with fine fibrous roots, the 

 whole apparently rather small for the size of the occupants. 

 About the middle of May, the female lays four or five eggs, 

 which are cream-colored, with a few dark-red spots near the 

 larger end, leaving a circular unspotted part at the ex- 

 tremity. The nest is usually placed between two small 

 twigs of a bush, not more than eight or nine feet from the 

 ground, and sometimes only four or five. 



HELMINTHOPHAGA, CABANIS. 



Helminthophaga, CABANIS, Mus. Hein. (1850-51) 20. (Type Sylvia rufaapilla.) 

 Bill elongated, conical, very acute ; the outlines very nearly straight, sometimes 

 slightly decurved; no trace of notch at the tip; wings long and pointed; the first 

 quill nearly or quite the longest; tail nearly even or slightly emarginate; short and 

 rather slender; tarsi longer than the middle toe. 



HELMINTHOPHAGA PINUS. Baird. 

 The Blue-winged Yellow Warbler. 



Certhia pinus, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 187. Gm., I. (1788) 478. 



Sylvia solitaria, Wilson. Am. Orn., II. (1810) 109. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. (1832) 102. 



Sylvia (Dacnis) solitaria, Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 410. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Upper parts and cheeks olive-green, brightest on the rump ; the wings, tail, and 

 upper tail coverts, in part, bluish-gray; an intensely black patch from the blue- 



