HELMITHERUS. 485 



head usually with a more or less diBtinct median streak of pale yellowish or 

 whitish ; bill light brownish ; iris brown ; legs and feet flesh-color. Nestling : 

 General color uniform dull cinnamon-brown, including bead, neck, and lower parts, 

 except belly, which is dirty white ; wings (except poverts) and tail essentially as 

 in adult. Length 5.15-6.50, wing 1.85-2.13, tail 1.85-2.17, culmen .65-.74, tarsus 

 .65-.75. Nest bulky and loosely constructed, of dry leaves, fine grasses, etc., placed 

 usually 4-8 feet up in cane (Arundinaria) stalks, near or over water. Eggs 1-3, .75 

 X .58, white, usually plain, but sometimes speckled or spotted with lilac or pale 

 brown. Sab. Gulf States, from South Carolina and Florida to eastern Texas 

 (Navarro County), and lower Mississippi Yalley north to the lower Wabash (Knox 

 County, Indiana) ; Jamaica in winter. 



638. H. swainsonii Aud. Swainson's Warbler. 



Genus HELMITHERUS Eafinesque. (Page 481, pi. CXVL, fig. 2.) 



Species. 



Adult : Head, neck, and lower parts buff, the first with two broad black stripes 

 on the pileum and a narrower black postocular streak ; upper parts plain olive- 

 green ; upper mandible dark brown, lower paler ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet 

 pale brownish flesh-color. Nestling : Head, neck, and lower parts deep buff, the 

 black head-stripes of the adult indicated by indistinct stripes of dull brown ; back, 

 scapulars, rump, and wing-coverts dull light brown, tinged with cinnamon, the 

 greater coverts tipped with buff. Length about 5.00-5.75, wing 2.65-2.90, tail 

 1.90-2.20, culmen .60-65, tarsus .70 ; female averaging slightly smaller. Nest em- 

 bedded in ground, among dead leaves, ferns, etc. Eggs 2-5, .68 X -52, creamy white, 

 or pinkish white, finely speckled, chiefly on or round larger end, with reddish brown. 

 Sab. Eastern United States, north to Connecticut Valley, Great Lakes, etc., but 

 chiefly south of 40° ; south, in winter, to Cuba, Jamaica, Yucatan, and through 

 Central America to Panama.. 639. H. vermivorus (Gmel.). Worm-eating Warbler. 



Genus HELMINTHOPHILA Eidgwat. (Page 481, pi. CXVL, fig. 5.) 



Species. 



Common Characters. — Length about 3.95-5.25. Nest on or very close to 

 ground, in woods or thickets, composed of fine grasses, rootlets, etc., deeply cup- 

 shaped, open above (in S. lucice in holes or behind bark of trees, stumps, etc.). 

 Eggs 3-5, white, speckled, more or less, with brown. 



a 1 . Middle and greater wing-coverts tipped, more or less broadly, with yellow or 



white. (A black or dusky streak from bill to eye ; inner webs of three outer 



tail-feathers extensively white ; forehead yellow.) 



b 1 . Throat and ear-coverts black in adult males, deep gray or dusky olive in 



females. 



c 1 . Cheeks and median lower parts white, or only slightly tinged with 



yellow, the sides and flanks ash-gray; back, scapulars, and rump 



ash-gray (sometimes tinged with olive-green) ; wing-bands yellow, 



