HELMINTHOPHAGA VIEGINIiE, VIRGINIA'S WARBLER. 51 



Helminthophaga ruh'icapilla, Cab., Mus. Heiu. 1850, 90. — Scl., P. Z. S. 1858, 298 (Oasaca, 



in Feb. aud Aug.). 

 Mniotilta rubricapilla, Eeinh., Ibis, iii, 1861, 6 (Greenland). 

 Sj/lvia leuoogastra, Shaw's Gen. Zool. x, 1817, 622. 

 " Sylvia naslivilleijYiEiLJj. — Si/lcia mexicana, JHoi^hQli,." •' '■ ' 



Hub. — Temperate North America, but especially Eastern United States. North to ,' 

 Canada, and to Cumberland House (Bichardsoti) ; casually to Greeulaud (Reinhardt). '_,. ' 

 Breeds from Massachusetts northward. Numerous Mexican quotations, but none West " 

 Indian nor Central American (,?). West to Utah (^Hew) and California (Coo/io-). "Co- , 

 lumbia River" {Audubon). 



Although this species, like most others of ihe same genus.' was uot > ,,. 

 observed by either of the Expeditions, its range includes the Missouri *'^ 

 region. It is by no means an exclusively Enstern species, as will be '^'^^ " 

 seen by the foregoing citations, its range being more nearly coincident ^•^i:' 

 with that of peregrina than of either pinus or chrysoptera. ^' ^ 



The nest and eggs I have never found. The followiug account, given 

 by Mr. Allen, is selected from a number at our disposal. Eeferriug to 

 Springfield, Massachusetts, he says: "Abundant in May and in the 

 early part of autumn. Arrives May 1st to 5th, and for two- or three 

 weeks is a common inhabitant 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 reseiu- 

 bles that of the Ghestnut-sided Warbler, that it might readily be mis- 

 taken. To this cause, aud to the difficulty of seeing such small birds in 

 the dense summer foliage, is doubtless owing to the fact of its being so 

 commonly overlooked by naturalists during the summer months, rather 

 than to its [supposed] extreme rarity iu this latitude at that season. I 

 have found the nest of this species for two successive season.s, as follows : 

 May 31, 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 aud completely concealed above by 

 the dead grass and weeds of the previous year. It was composed of 

 fine rootlets and dry grasses, lined with flue dried grass and a few horse- 

 hairs, and covered exteriorly with a species of hue green moss. The 

 eggs were white, sprinkled with light reddish-brown specks, moat thickly- 

 near the larger end ; longer diameter 0.60, and the shorter 0.50. The 

 following year, June 5, 1863, I found another nest of this species within 

 three or four feet of where the one was disco\ered the x>revious year, 

 containing three eggs of this species and one of the Cow-bunting, in 

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

 ular, was built and arranged like the one above described, and the egg 

 must have been laid at just about the same time. * * * * The 

 locality of the nests was a mossy bank at the edge of young woods, 

 slopiug southward, and covered with bushes aud coarse grass. Proba- 

 bly the male of the first nest, mating again, selected the same site for 

 the second nest ; and it may have been occupied for a longer time." 



HELMINTHOPHAGA VIRGINIA, Bd. 

 Virginia's Warbler. 



Solminthophaga virqinia;, Bd., B. N. A. I?(i0 (nftt 1858), p. xi, pi. 79, f. 1 (Canton Burg- 

 ■wyu, N.M.'); Rev. 1865, 177,— Cocks, Pr. Phila. Acad. 186S, 70 (Fort Whipple, 

 Ariz.).— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 85.— Aiken, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1872, 196 (Eastern 

 Colorado). — Couics, Key, 1872, 04. 



Hob. — Southern Rocky J 



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