WOOD WARBLERS. 333 



Range. Interior of North America, from Texas north to Minnesota, east 

 to Illinois. 



Nest, pensile, of strips of bark and plant fibers firmly and smoothly inter- 

 woven, lined with finer grasses, etc., in bushes or low trees. Eggs, four to 

 six, white, with a few specks of black, umber, or rufous-brown at the larger 

 end, -66 x -50. 



This is a common bird in its range, and is locally not uncommon 

 as far east as Illinois. " In their food, habits, and actions they are 

 very similar to the White-eyed. Their call- and alarm-notes are not 

 quite so harsh, and their song is delivered in a less emphatic manner ; 

 an indescribable sputtering, that does not rank it high in the musical 

 scale " (Goss). 



The BAHAMA HONEY CBEEPEB (635. Ccereba bahamensis) was found by 

 Dr. Wurdemann in January, 1858, on Indian Key, southeastern Florida, but 

 has not, to my knowledge, been taken by subsequent observers. The upper 

 parts are sooty black, the rump and middle of the under parts yellow, and a line 

 over the eye, the throat, and the lower belly are white or whitish ; length 

 about 4'50. 



FAMILY MNIOTILTIDJE. WOOD WARBLERS. 



The Wood Warblers are found only in America, and are most numer- 

 ously represented in eastern North America. About one hundred spe- 

 cies are known, of which seventy visit the United States, while the 

 remaining thirty are tropical. 



With three or four exceptions they are inhabitants of woodland, 

 but during their migrations may be found in the trees of lawns or 

 orchards. They feed almost exclusively upon insects, and are thus 

 highly migratory, thousands of miles frequently separating their sum- 

 mer and winter homes. 



The majority are among the last of the spring arrivals ; their com- 

 ing caps the climax of the migration, and the first severe frost leaves 

 but few with us. They migrate by night, and are chief among the 

 victims of lighthouses and electric-light towers. When migrating, 

 they are generally found in straggling companies composed of a num- 

 ber of species, which during the day travel slowly through the woods 

 from tree to tree. 



They capture their insect food in a variety of ways. Some species 

 flit actively from branch to branch, taking their prey from the more 

 exposed parts of the twigs and leaves ; others are gleaners, and care- 

 fully explore the under surfaces of leaves or crevices in the bark; 

 while several, like Flycatchers, capture a large part of their food on 

 the wing. As a rule, they are arboreal, but many are thicket-haunt- 

 ing, and some are terrestrial. 



