BIRDS OF KANSAS. 535 



Iris brown; bill upper dark brown, under pale; legs, feet 

 and claws plumbeous. 



These active birds are quite common throughout their range. 

 They inhabit the dense patches of bushes and briers on the 

 prairies; hedge fences are also a favorite resort. 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. 



Their deep, cup-shaped nests are suspended from slender forks 

 of twigs or vines, and are composed of lint-like strippings from 

 plants, neatly interwoven with bits of old leaves and other frag- 

 mentary substances, and lined with fine, slender stemlets from 

 weeds and grasses; in some cases, lined with hairs. Eggs usu- 

 ally four, . 69x. 50; pure white, thinly speckled or dotted around 

 the larger end with dark reddish brown; in form, oval. 



FAMILY MNIOTILTIDJE. WOOD WARBLERS. 



Bill not conoid; angle of gonys not forward of the nostril; tertials not elon- 

 gated, but with their tips falling far short of the ends of the longest primaries; 

 hind claw much shorter than its digit. (Ridgway.) 



" This varied aud pretty family embraces the great majority of warblers syl- 

 van nymphs, that fairly swarm with us during their migratory flights; the larger 

 portion winging themselves northward to breed, and all, with one exception (the 

 Oven Bird Dendroica coronala), wintering south of our limits, chiefly in south- 

 ern Mexico and Central America." 



GENUS MNIOTILTA VIEILLOT. 



"General form sylvicoline; bill rather long, compressed, shorter than the 

 head, with very short rictal bristles and a shallow notch. Wings considerably 

 longer than the tail, which is slightly rounded; first quill shorter than second 

 and third. Tarsi rather short; toes long, middle one equal to the tarsus; hind 

 toe nearly as long, the claw considerably shorter than its digit. Color white, 

 streaked with black. Nest on ground; eggs white, blotched with red." 



Mniotilta varia (LINX.). 



BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER. 

 PLATE XXXI. 



Summer resident; quite common in the eastern part of the 

 State. Arrive the last of April; begin laying about the 20th of 

 May; leave in September. 



B. 167. R. 74, 74a. C. 91, 92. G. 32, 271. U. 636. 



