OF VIRGINIA 301 
observations during a number of years with me. Color 
protection is well demonstrated hy the material used in 
the coustruction of their nests. Small pine needles, fine 
bits and strips of bark, and fine rootlets and some plant 
fibers form the aenertil structural part, with a lining of 
very fine grasses; occasionally some feathers. Four 
eggs is a complete set. Size, .68x.52. Eggs dull white, 
spotted and blotched with a dull lilac, brown, or reddish, 
mostly on the larger end and forming a wreath. Fresh 
eges from March 15th to April 10th. Occasionally a 
second setting, May 20th. As the severe storms and cold 
spells of April blow out and destroy many nests and 
young, the birds naturally lay again, thus extending the 
breeding period over considerable time. One, therefore, 
finds voung birds of all ages, nests with Prope egos, and 
partly finished nests, from the last of March well into 
June. They feed at long distances from the nest, and 
it is only by uninterrupted following and watching of 
the female until she flies to the nest, that makes its loca- 
tion possible. Even after finding it, it may be many feet 
beyond reach, and it was only by constructing a device 
on the end of an eight-foot pole that I managed to collect 
a good series. They are abundantly distributed over 
Tidewater, even to the islands off our coast, where pine 
timber still stands. Their food consists of larve, moths, 
caterpillars, and various insects of the pine foliage. 
[673]. Dendroica discolor (Vieillot). Prairie Warbler, 
Raner.—Eastern United States and West Indies. 
Breeds chiefly in Carolinian and Austroriparian zones 
from southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, southern 
Ohio, southwestern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, 
