SWAINSON'S WARBLER 



43 



able, but it is often reduplicated into a 'chippering' very much like the 

 Black-throated Green's." (Thayer, MS.) 



Nesting Site. — A depression in the ground at the base of a tree, 

 bush, weeds, stump, rocks, etc., beneath fallen limbs, upturned roots, 

 or in the shelter of a log. 



Nest. — Bulky, composed of dead leaves, .strips of grape-vine or 

 cedar bark, or soft inner bark of other trees, grasses and rootlets and 

 lined with hairs; sometimes more or less roofed. 



Eggs. — 4 or 5, usually 5. Ground color of creamy white to 

 white, heavily and profusely spotted and specked with reddish brown, 

 chestnut, hazel and lavender, tending to form a wreath around large 

 end, but quite evenly marked all over. Many types approach those 

 of the Canada and Lutescent Warblers, some few specimens exhibit 

 small blotches. The shape is a rounded oval, less pointed than the 

 majority of our Warblers' eggs. Size; average, .66X.53; extremes, 

 .72X.52, .62X.52, .69X.55, .64X.48. (Figs. 3-5.) 



Nesting DafM.— Iredell Co., N. C, April 18 (7. P. N. ); West 

 Chester, Pa., June 2, young on wing (Jackson) ; New York City, 

 May 18 (F. M. C.) ; New Haven, Conn., May 20-June 4, three eggs, 

 two young (Bishop) ; Cambridge, Mass., full sets of first laying. May 

 18-30 (Brewster) ; Bangor, Me., May 27- June 21 (Knight) ; Listo- 

 well, Ont., May 23-June 10 (Kelts). 



Biographical References 



(i) J. P. N. [OKMs], A Series of Eggs of the Black and White Warbler, 

 Orn. and 061., XIII, 1888, 183. (2) W. L. Kells, Nesting of some Canadian 

 Warblers, Ottawa Naturalist, XV, 1902, 229. 



Genus HELINAIA Swainson 



Helinaia bears a strong general resemblance, both in form and 

 color, to Helmitheros, the bill, however, is longer (nearly equalling 

 the head in length), and much straighter, the arc of the culmen is 

 not convex, its ridge is more developed and sharper, and parts the 

 feathers of the forehead more deeply; the wing is slightly more 

 rounded, the tail-feathers are broader, the under tail-coverts reach to 

 within half an inch, or less, of the the end of the tail, the tarsus is 

 slightly longer than the middle-toe and nail. 



In Helinaia swainsoni, the single species contained in this genus, 

 the sexes are alike in color. 



