WORM-EATING WARBLER. 



HELMrrHERUS VERMIVORUS. 



Char. Above, olive ; head buff, with four stripes of black ; beneath, 

 buff, paler on belly. Length 5}^ to 5^ inches. 



Nest. On the ground, often covered by a bush, or beside a fallen log ; 

 of leaves, moss, and grass, lined with moss, fine grass, or hair. 



Eggs. 3-6 (usually 5) ; variable in shape and color ; white, sometimes 

 with buff or pink tint, marked with fine spots of reddish brown and 

 lilac; 0.70 X0.5S. 



These birds arrive in Pennsylvania about the middle of 

 May, and migrate to the South towards the close of Septem- 

 ber ; they were seen feeding their young in that State about 

 the 25 th of June by Wilson, so that some pairs stay and breed 

 there. They are very active and indefatigable insect-hunters, 

 and have the note and many of the manners of the Marsh 

 Titmouse or Chickadee. About the 4th of October I have seen 

 a pair of these birds roving through the branches of trees with 

 restless agility, hanging on the twigs and examining the trunks, 

 in quest probably of spiders and other lurking and dormant 

 insects and their larvae. One of them likewise kept up a con- 

 stant complaining call, like the sound of tshe de de. 



According to Richardson this species visits the fur coun- 

 tries, where a single specimen was procured at Cumberland 

 House, on the banks of the Saskatchewan. It is found also in 

 Maine and the British Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova 

 Scotia. Dr. Bachman says that it breeds sparingly in the 



