370 WOOD WARBLERS. 



cies. "Swamp" or " Tamarac Warbler," or "Bog Black-throat," 

 would have been much more truly descriptive. 



In the cold, boggy tamarac swamps of Manitoba, where I found it 

 breeding, it was the only one of the family, and almost the only bird, 

 .whose voice broke the silence of those gray wastes. Its loud song was 

 nnich like the " teacher, teacher " chant of the Oven-bird, but it also 

 uttered another, which I can recall to mind by the aid of the syllables 

 -'free-chappie, free-chappie, free-chappie, WHOIT." 



The nest was placed on the ground, or, rather, in the moss which 

 everywhere covered the ground to a depth of a foot or two, and was 

 composed of fine vegetable fibers. 



This species has somewhat the manners of the Vireos but is much 

 more active and sprightly in its movements. During the migrations 

 it is generally found on or near the ground, in the undergrowth of 

 low, damp woods, and also in bordering, weedy fields, where it some- 

 times announces its presence by a sharp peek. ERNEST E. THOMPSON. 



679. Geothlypis Philadelphia ( Wils.}. MOURNING WARBLER. 

 Ad. $ . Head, neck, and throat bluish gray, changing to black on the breast ; 

 no white eye-ring ; rest of upper parts, wings, and tail olive-green ; no wing- 

 bars or tail-patches; belly yellow. Ad. 9 and Im. Similar, but upper parts 

 olive-green, slightly grayer on the head ; breast grayish, throat whiter. L., 

 5-63; W., 2-56; T., 2-13; B. from N., -32. 



Remarks. This species bears a general resemblance to the preceding, but 

 may always be distinguished from it by the absence of a white eye-ring. 



Range. Eastern North America ; breeds from eastern Nebraska, northern 

 New York, and Nova Scotia northward, and southward along the Alleghanies 

 to Pennsylvania; winters in the tropics. 



Washington, very rare T. V., May 15 to 30 ; Aug. Sing Sing, rare T. V., 

 May 28 to 29 ; Aug. 18 to Oct. 1. Cambridge, rare T. V., May 22 to June 6 ; 

 Sept. 12 to 30. 



Nest, of strips of bark and other fibrous materials, lined with hair, on or 

 near the ground. Eggs, four, white, sprinkled with reddish dots near the 

 larger end, *71 x -54 (Davie). 



The Mourning Warbler inhabits the undergrowth, choosing situ- 

 ations not unlike those selected by the Maryland Yellow-throat. 



" Its common song consists of a simple, clear, warbling whistle, re- 

 sembling the syllables ''true, ''true, 'true, 'tru, 'too, the voice rising on 

 the first three syllables and falling on the last two. 

 . " Sometimes, when otherwise occupied, the first, or first two, syl- 

 lables are omitted. All through the breeding season, and till late in 

 July, they have a very characteristic habit of perching, at frequent in- 

 tervals during the day, on some branch, generally a dead one, and 

 commonly ten or fifteen feet from the ground, and singing for half an 

 hour at a time" (Merriam, Birds of Connecticut, p. 24). 



