52 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



dry grass and locust blossoms, with here and there a piece of twine 

 braided into the structure. It had no special lining, but the grass was 

 more evenly woven on the inside of the cup than elsewhere. 



From three to five eggs are deposited. The ground color is white, 

 either pure or creamy, sparingly mottled with rich madder-brown and 

 lilac-gray, the spots being thicker and larger on the larger end. While 

 the nest is undergoing examination, the owners circle and hover over- 

 head, much after the fashion of the red-winged blackbirds, and express 

 their disapproval in loud and musicals calls, displaying their rich scar- 

 let decorations. 



My descriptions have all related only to the male bird, whose beauti" 

 ful forked tail is nine to ten inches long, and whose colors are clear and 

 more or less intense. His spouse resembles him, but is slightly smal- 

 ler, while her tail, though forked like her mate's, is from two and a half 

 to three inches shorter. The salmon and scarlet ornaments on the sides 

 flanks and axillars are paler than those of her lord, and the crown-spot 

 shows very indistinctly on her occiput. The young don the dress of the 

 mother bird, save that they fail to adorn themselves with a scarlet gem 

 on the crown. 



Like all the members of the flycatcher group, the scissor-tails cap- 

 ture insects on the wing, making many an elegant picture as they per- 

 form their evolutions in the air. 



BLUE.WINGED WARBLER, 



A. O. U. No. 641. (Helminthophila piiios 



RANGE. 



Eastern United States, from southern New" England, Southern New 

 York and Minnesota, southwards and west to Nebraska and Texas. 

 DESCRIPTION. 



Length 4.5 in.; extent, 7.5 in.; tail 2 in.; eye brown; lids, yellow; bill 

 and feet black. Above olive green, brightest on the rump. Fore part 

 of crown and the under parts, a bright yellow, wings and tail bluish- 

 gray. There are two white bands on the wing and the inner webs of 

 the three outer tail feathers are mostly white, as are the under tail co- 

 verts. A black line extends from the base of the bill through the eye 

 and to the cheek. The female differs but little in plumage, chiefly in 

 the crown which is a dull yellow. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



They generally select an open place in a clump of brush, or on the 

 edge of woods that contain a growth of rank grass or golden rod; some- 

 times at the foot of a single sprout, but more often hidden in the rank 



