NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 381 



this bird iu North Carolina prefers the smaller streams as breeding 

 places — nesting in the exposed roots of trees along the banks. The eggs 

 are four or five, sometimes six in number, the usual number being 

 five. Twelve sets in Mr. Norris' cabinet exhibit considerable variation 

 in their general coloration, size, etc. The ground color varies from a 

 pure white to a deep creamy-white, thickly speckled with cinnamon- 

 rufous or chestnut (more heavily near the larger ends) and lilac-gray. 

 Some specimens have very bold spots of chestnut, and the specks are 

 entirely wanting. A set taken April 30, 1888, in Iredell county. North 

 Carolina, offers the following sizes : .71 x 57, .74 x 58, .73 x .48, .71 x 58, 

 .74X.59; another set taken May i, .86X.57, .83 x .57, .83X.59, .81 x 

 .59, .83X.60. 



677. Geothlypis formosa (Wils.) [119.] 



Kentucky 'Warbler. 



Hab. Eastern United States, chiefly west of the Alleghanies to the Plains, north to the Great Lakes 

 and Southern New England; in winter, south through Eastern Mexico and Central America to Panama; Cuba. 



The Kentucky Warbler is particularly an abundant species in the 

 Lower Mississippi Valley — Southern Indiana and Illinois, and south- 

 ward to Southeastern Texas. Col. Goss gives it as a common summer 

 resident of Kansas ; begins laying about May 20. Its nests and eggs 

 have been taken in Southern Illinois and Indiana in the middle of 

 May. It is a rare sirmmer resident in particular localities in Ohio; 

 more common in the southwestern portion. Mr. Frank W. Langdon 

 found a nest containing lour eggs of the Warbler and one of the Cow- 

 bird near Madisonville, Hamilton county, Ohio, on May 28. The eggs 

 were far advanced in incubation. In Jones' magnificent work " Nests 

 and Eggs of Birds of Ohio " there is a beautiful illustration of a nest 

 which was found on the 20th of May, 1880, in Kentucky, near the 

 Ohio line. The bird has been discovered nesting near Sing Sing, 

 New York, in June ; at Fort Lee, New Jersey. Its nests have also 

 been taken in the District of Columbia in May. John S. Cairns found 

 a nest of the Kentucky Warbler in Buncombe county. North Carolina, 

 June 15, 1886. 



Mr. C. J. Pennock in " Birds of Chester county, Pennsyl- 

 vania"* gives it as a rather common summer resident. It has been 

 found nesting in that region by Mr. Pennock, Mr. Ladd, Thomas H. 

 Jackson and others. The nest of this species is placed on the ground 

 in woods ; it is usually very bulky, composed of leaves, grasses, and 

 lined with rootlets or horse hair. It is generally situated at the 

 foot of a bush or weed stalk. Mr. Pennock informs me that he 

 found the nest deeply imbedded in leaves with weeds growing around 



» In The Oologist, IV, pp. 1- 10. 



