NASHVILLE WAItBLEK. 63 



little birds, usually frequenting hummocks and the underbrush which grows about them. I think 

 they rarely visit the pine woods. These birds are very unsuspicious and may bo approached 

 quite nearly but when alarmed will utter a quick, sharp chirp and instantly conceal themselves in 

 the nearest thicket. 1 never heard them sing, and never have seen a specimen during the 

 nesting season, yet it is probable that a few breed in the state. 



HELMINTHOPHAGA RUPICAPILLA. 



Nashville Warbler. 

 Ifr!iiiiiiilii-iili:i : iii rii/i'-ii/'illii BAIIID, Birds of North America, 1858, 256. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form, slender. Size, small. Bill, not long. Tall, slightly emarginate. Sternum, rather slightly built and 

 although :i little smaller th:in that oi' the preceding, it Is of the same form and proportions. Tongue, not long, thin, 

 narrow ami horny. The end is quite deeply cleft, but it is only ciliated on the extreme end, and there the cilia are 

 very short. 



I'm.nK. .Unit male. Above, bright olivaceous green, with the head and neck above, and on the sides ashy. 

 There is a partly concealed patch of chestnut ou the crown. The wings and tail are brown, edged on the outer webs 

 witli greenish. Beneath, very bright yellow, with the abdomen white. There Is an indication of a yellowish 

 superciliary line, and a ring around the eye is whitish. 



nale, very similar, but paler above and below, and having less chestnut on the crown. 



'/'/,. young lack tin' chestnut crown. The head and neck are brownish instead of ashy ; there is a brownish 

 suffusion over the back, and the yellow beneath is quite pale; there is even a tinge of ashy on the throat. Irides, 

 feet and bill, brown, but with the lower mandible lighter. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



-ily known in the adult stage by the chestnut crown, ashy head and yellow under parts. The young are also 

 distinguished from those of II. celata by the yellow beneath, celata being very ashy-gray on these portions. Found 

 in summer throughout Eastern United States from Florida to Maine; winters in Mexico and Central America, also 

 rarely found in Florida at this season. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of fourteen specimens from New England. Length, 475; stretch, 7 - 60; wing, 2-35; 

 tail, 1-70: bill, -40; tarsus, -62. Longest specimen, 5-51; greatest extent of wings, 7-76; longest wing, 2-50; tall, 

 bill, (.">: tar-us, -67. Shortest specimen, 4-55; smallest extent of wings, 2-30; shortest wing, 2-22; tail, 1-60; 

 bill, :1K; tarsus, -60. 



DESCRIPTION OF NEST AND EGGS. 



Nfnt, composed outwardly of green moss, then dried grasses, lined with finer grasses and some white hairs. 

 Dimensions: external diameter, 3-50 inches, internal, 2-25; external depth, 2-75 inches, internal, 1-LT.. 



Kijys, four in number, rather pointed, creamy white in color, spotted and blotched on the larger end with 

 reddish-brown and lilac, where they sometimes form rings. The remaining surface of the egg is also sparsely 

 dotted witli brown. Dimensions, -GGx-50. The above description was made from a nest taken at West Newbury, 

 by my young friend, Oilman Brown. 



HABITS. 



I shot the first specimen of these little birds, that I had ever seen, many years ago, in 

 Newton. As this was the first knowledge I ever obtained of their existence, and as they 

 appeared entirely different from any birds which 1 had hitherto observed, I, like most young 

 collectors when they obtain an unfamiliar bird, considered them a new species. I hail token 

 two, one of each sex, and hastened home with my pri/.es to ascertain for a certainty if they had 

 ever been described, eagei ly thinking over the matter that I might decide upon an appropriate 

 name for such pretty birds; but found that I had counted a species before it was hatched, 

 for upon consulting the proper books, discovered, much to my disappointment that the 

 Nashville Warbler? had not only been known for years but that they were not even rare : 

 all the ornithologists agreeing in pronouncing them common. Consequently, the little 

 yellow-breasted and red-crowned birds fell many degrees in my estimation. 



