382 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



them ; others were discovered among leaves at a considerable 

 distance from grass or weeds. 



The eggs are four or five, rarely six, in number. They are white, 

 variously speckled or spotted with burnt umber, cinnamon-rufous 

 and lilac-gray, chiefly and more heavily at the larger ends. Three 

 sets of the eggs in Mr. Norris' collection, taken June 9 and 19, 1885, 

 and May 28, 1888, respectively, give the following measurements : .79 

 X.59, -yjx.sg. ■77^-58, .78X.56; .77X.56, .79X.57, .78X.56, .75X.56; 

 .65X.54, .66X.55, .67X.55, .65X.55; average .73X.57. 



678. GeotMypis agilis (Wils.) [118.] 



ComieoticTit "Warbler. 



Hab. Eastern North America, breeding north of the United States. 



This is one of the rarest of North American Warblers, seen in the 

 United States only during the spring and fall migrations ; in the latter 

 season abundant in some localities. So far as I am aware the only 

 authentic nest and eggs of this species that are known are those taken 

 by Mr. Ernest E. Thompson, who found a nest June 21, 1883, on a 

 moss mound in a tamarack swamp near Carberry, Manitoba. It was 

 composed entirely of dry grass, sunken level with the surface. 

 The eggs were four in number and measured .75X.56. Before blown 

 they were of a delicate creamy-white, with a few spots of lilac, brown, 

 and black, inclining to form a ring at the large end. The nest with 

 eggs and parent birds are now in the National Museum.* 



679. GeotMypis pMladelpMa (Wils.) [120.] 



Mourning "Warbler. 



Hab. Eastern North America, breeding from the Northern United States northward; in winter, south 

 to Central and Northern South America. 



The Mourning Warbler is known to breed in the mountainous por- 

 tions of Pennsylvania, New England, New York, Michigan, Minnesota 

 and Eastern Nebraska northward. It has been found nesting in Illinois, 

 south of latitude 39°. Its nest is built on or near the ground in 

 woods. One discovered by Mr. John Burroughs in the State of New 

 York was built in ferns about a foot from the ground, on the edge of a 

 hemlock wood. It contained three eggs. Mr. Wm. L. Kells found 

 what doubtless was the nest of this species in a swampy woods near 

 Ivistowel, Ontario, early in June, 1877. The nest was placed in the 

 horizontal branch of a small cedar a little more than a foot above the 

 ground. It was composed of fine strips of bark and other fibrous ma- 

 terial, lined with fine hair. This nest contained four eggs which are 

 white with a sprinkling of reddish dots near the larger ends. 



The eggs are described as being colored like those of G. formosa 

 or G. agilis] size .71X.54. 



<• C/. Steton, The Auk, Vol. I, pp. 192-193. 



