BIRDS OF KANSAS. 553 



According to Mr. MacFarlane, who found them nesting at An- 

 derson River, they occasionally nest on the ground. Doctor 

 Brewer, in "North American Land Birds," gives the following 

 minute description of a nest: 



"In the summer of 1855, early in July, I obtained a nest of 

 this species in Parsboro', Nova Scotia. It was built in a low 

 bush, in the midst of a small village, and contained six eggs. 

 The parents were very shy, and it was with great difficulty that 

 one of them was secured for identification. Though late in the 

 season, incubation had but just commenced. 



"The nest was built on a horizontal branch, the smaller twigs 

 of which were so interlaced as to admit of being built npon 

 them, though their extremities were interwoven into its rim. 

 The nest was small for the bird, being only two inches in depth, 

 and four and a half in diameter. The cavity is one and one- 

 half inches deep and two and a half wide. Its base and exter- 

 nal portions consist of fine, light dry stalks of wild grasses, and 

 slender twigs and roots. Of the last, the firm, strong rim of 

 the nest is exclusively woven. Within, the nest is composed 

 of soft, fine grasses, downy feathers, and the fine hair of the 

 smaller mammals." 



Eggs three to six, .70x.53; white to greenish white, spotted 

 and blotched (thickest and usually forming a wreath around the 

 larger end) with varying shades of umber brown to blackish and 

 pale lilac (they vary greatly in the amount of markings and 

 shape); being in form rounded oval to ovate. 



Dendroica auduboni (TOWNS.). 



AUDUBON'S WARBLER. 

 PLATE XXXII. 



Migratory in western Kansas; rather common. Arrive early 

 in the spring; return and leave for the south in October; a few 

 occasionally remaining late into November. 



B. 195. R. 96. C. 120. G. 42, 281. U. 656. 



HABITAT. Western North America; north to British Columbia; 

 east to the eastern border of the Great Plains (accidentally to 

 Massachusetts); wintering in southern Arizona and California, 



