266 BIRDS — STLVICOLID^. 



ping their tails, like the Titlarks and Sandpipers, as they walk. They 

 are rarely found in woodland, and, though in some localities they are 

 said to visit towns and cities, I have never seen them except in the open 

 fields. Another peculiarity is the situation of their nest, which differs 

 from that of all other members of the genus, in being placed on the 

 ground. 



This species breeds from Maine northward. The site chosen is said 

 usually to be the edge of a swampy thicket. The nest is small, con- 

 structed of grass, fibres of bark, and moss, and lined with down and 

 feathers. The eggs are yellowish- or creamy-white, blotched, chiefly 

 about the greater end, with lilac, purplish, and reddish-brown. They 

 measure .70 by .55. 



The description of the bird above given is sufiicient to identify this 

 species, but Mr. Ridgway finds certain constant differences between birds 

 of the Atlantic and those of the Mississippi Valley region. In Bull* 

 Nutt. Orn. Club, i, 1876, 81, he considers these differences and divides 

 the species into two sub-species, pcdmarum and hypochrysea. The distinc- 

 tive characters which he gives are as follows : 



" Sub-species jjaZmamm.—WiDg, 2.35-2.65 (2.52); tail, 2,05-2.45 (2.24); bill, from nos- 

 tril, .27- 32 (.29) ; tarsus, .71-.80 (.76). Yellow of lower parts interrupted by a whitish 

 abdominal area; breast streaked uniformly across, the streaks being linear and dusky, 

 with little, if any, tinge of chestnut ; lower eyelid whitish ; back dull olive-brown. 

 Habitat, Mississippi Valley (north to the Great Slave Lake) and West Indies. Casual 

 in certain Atlantic States. 



"Sub-species hi/pocTirysea.— Wing, 2.50-2.80 (2.69); tail, 2.25-2.55 (2.43); bill, from 

 nostril, .28-.32 (.30) ; tarsus, .75-.80 (.79). Yellow of lower parts entirely continuous, and 

 much brighter; streaks' confined mostly, or wholly, to the sides of breast, broadly tear- 

 shaped, wholly reddish-chestnut; lower eye-lid bright yellow; back greenish-olive. 

 Habitat, Atlantio^tates, from East Florida to Nova Scotia." 



Dr. Coues gives as a diagnostic mark of this species, in any plumage, 

 the presence of tail spots at the tip of the two outer tail feathers only, 

 but this does not hold good with var. palmarum. All specimens of my 

 collection have the third feather narrowly tipped with white. This 

 may prove a constant character of var. palmarum. 



Dendececa pintjs (Wils.) Bd. 



Pine-creeping "Warbler. 



Dendroica pinus, Whbaton, Ohio Agrio. Eep. for 1860, 364; Reprint, 1801, 6. 



Dendrmca pinus, Wheaton, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agrio. Rep. for 1874, 564; Reprint, 



1875, 4.— Lanudon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, i ; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soo. Nat. 



Hist., 1, 1879, 172 ; Reprint, 6. , 



Sylvia pinua, Wilson, Am. Orn., iii, 1811, 25. 

 Dendroiea pinus, Baird, Birds N. Am., 1858, 277. 

 Dendr(ecapinu8, McIlwraith, Proo. Ess. Inst., v, 1866, 86. 



