282 THE BIRDS 
eastern and western Pennsylvania, and the Hudson and 
Connecticut River valleys south to southern Missouri, 
Tennessee, Virginia, and mountains of South Carolina 
(casually further south); winters from Chiapas to 
Panama, in Cuba and the Bahamas, and casually in 
Florida; in migration casually to Massachusetts, Ver- 
mont, western New York, southern Ontario, and southern 
Wisconsin. 
This is undoubtedly our rarest breeding warbler, and 
I have not as yet positively found and identified a nest 
with eggs or young within Tidewater. They do, however, 
breed not far north and west of that area, becoming 
common in the valley and mountain regions. In the spring 
migration they reach us in numbers about April 26th, while 
many are found with us around August 24th. They are a 
ground-loving bird similar to the Ovenbird and Water 
Thrush, procuring much of their insect food from the 
near ground foliage and amongst the dry leaves. The 
nest is placed on the ground under some overhanging 
bush, or at the foot of a small sapling, on the hillside, or 
side of a mound preferred. The nest is composed of dry 
leaves and lined with fine grasses and a few horse hairs. 
Fresh eggs May 12th to 20th; four to five in number, 
a glossy-white, specked and spotted with reddish-brown 
and chestnut, and undermarkings of lavender. Size, 
.66x.50. They raise but a single brood each season, and 
as their food is entirely insect matter, they must be 
reckoned as a beneficial bird along with the others of the 
warbler family. 
