BIRDS OF KANSAS. 543 



' 'Abundant in May, and in the early part of autumn. Arrives 

 May 1st to 5th, and for two or three weeks is a common inhabit- 

 ant of the orchards and gardens, actively gleaning insects among 

 the unfolding leaves and blossoms of the fruit trees; nearly all 

 go north, but a few retire to the woods and breed. During June, 

 1863, 1 frequently saw them in my excursions in the woods; often 

 three or four males in an hour' s walk. Its song so much resem- 

 bles that of the Chestnut-sided Warbler that it might readily be 

 mistaken.* To this cuse, and the difficulty of seeing such small 

 birds in the dense foliage, is doubtless owing the fact of its be- 

 ing so commonly overlooked by naturalists during the summer 

 months, rather than to its (supposed ) extreme rarity in this lati- 

 tude at that season. I have found the nest of this species, for 

 two successive seasons, as follows: May 31st, 1862, containing 

 four freshly-laid eggs. The nest was placed on the ground, and 

 sunken so that the top of the nest was level with the surface of 

 the ground, and protected and completely concealed above by 

 the dead grass and weeds of the previous year. It was com- 

 posed of fine rootlets and dry grasses, lined with fine dried grass 

 and a few horse hairs, and covered exteriorly with a species of 

 fine green moss. The eggs were white, sprinkled with light 

 reddish-brown specks, most thickly near the larger end; longer 

 diameter .60, and the shorter .50. The following year, June 

 5th, 1863, I found another nest of this species, within three or 

 four feet of where the one was discovered the previous year, 

 containing three eggs of this species and one of the Cowbird, in 

 all of which the embryos were far advanced. The nest, in every 

 particular, was built and arranged like the one above described, 

 and the eggs must have been laid at just about the same time. 

 The locality of the nest was a mossy bank at the edge 

 of young woods, sloping southward, and covered with bushes 

 and coarse grass." 



Eggs three to five, .61x49; white to creamy white, minutely 

 spotted over the surface, chiefly about the larger end, with red- 

 dish brown and lilac; in form, oval. 



* The males sing quite loudly from the treetops, but, to my ear, their song is less musical 

 than the Chestnut-sided Warbler, and much more like the trill of the Chipping Sparrow. 



