BIRDS OF NEW YORK 383 



Florida, the Bahamas and West Indies. In New York, as is shown by 

 the distribution map on page 25, volume i, this species is almost entirely 

 confined to the lower Hudson valley where it is common in a few localities 

 near New York, in northern Westchester county, nesting also at Nyack 

 and Catskill, and a few stations on Long Island (Bellport, Miller's Place) 

 where it has been reported as rare. It has occurred in a few localities of 

 western New York, especially near Oneonta, May 9 to August 1900; Ithaca, 

 May 6, 1909; Binghamton, May 14, 1905; Elmira; Corning; Branchport; 

 Penn Yan; Rochester; Herkimer; and Lockport; but although it was seen 

 by Mr Stone carrying building material near Branchport, no nest of the 

 species, as far as I know, has ever been found in western or central New 

 York. It is, therefore, strictly confined to the Carolinian faunal area of 

 the State except during migration when a few individuals overreach their 

 normal range but fail to establish themselves as breeding species. The 

 migration dates for southeastern New York show that it arrives from the 

 3d to the 1 6th of May, and in the fall it disappears usually between the 

 1st and the i6th of September, although specimens have been taken as 

 late as September 21, and in some localities it has not been noted later 

 than the 15th to the 23d of August. 



Habits. The Worm-eating warbler seems to prefer dense undergrowth 

 in swampy thickets and wet places grown up to huckleberries; wooded 

 hillsides and ravines ; and dense undergrowth of woodland. It spends the 

 greater portion of its time on the ground, walking instead of hopping, 

 with slow and deliberate motions, among the dry leaves, with its tail tilted 

 rather high, often rustling among the dead leaves and occasionally creeping 

 up the trunks or inclined logs and on the larger branches of trees to the 

 height of 10 to 20 feet, but it is preeminently a ground warbler. It is 

 very shy and difficult to capture. Mr Brewster remarks that the slightest 

 sound would frighten the bird to a different part of the wood. Nearly 

 all observers agree in comparing the song of this species to that of the 

 Chipping sparrow, Mr Thayer remarking, however, that it is shorter, 

 weaker and distinctly more insectlike in tone. The call note is a sharp 



