OF VIRGINIA 315 
1910, and once in 1909. The nights were those still, 
wari, beautiful moonlight nights, seldom found except 
in the far south or tropies. I sat at my desk writing, 
and through the open windows came that clear, beautiful 
whistle, ending by their peculiar note or squawk. This 
was during the height of the breeding season, the pair of 
birds having a nest with eggs in a mass of vines and 
honeysuckle in one of my poultry yards, some two 
hundred feet from the house. The nests are rather 
loosely made, bulky affairs of dry leaves, weed stems, 
grass and strips of bark, lined with fine grasses. Eges 
number from three to four, white, with specks and 
blotches of brown, lilac and lavender. A series shows a 
great variation in color, size and markings. Size, .88x.68. 
Fresh eggs from May 15th to June Ist, sometimes a 
second setting. Their food consists chiefly of caterpillars, 
white larve, and soft-bodied insccts, flies; also numerous 
beetles and their eggs are eaten freely. They depart about 
August 28th, too soon, I think, for we miss them from a 
beneficial standpoint, as well as their pleasant song. We 
find them numerous all over our area. 
GENUS WILSONIA. 
[684]. Welsonta citrina (Boddaert). Hooded Warbler. 
Raneor.—Eastern United States. Breeds in Carolinian 
and <Austroriparian zones from southeastern Nebraska, 
southern Iowa, southwestern Michigan, central New York, 
and the lower Connecticut Valley south to Louisiana, 
Alabama, and Georgia; winters from Vera Cruz and 
Yueatan to Panama; occasional in the Bahamas, Cuba, 
and Jamaica; casual north to Wisconsin, Michigan, 
Ontario, and Massachusetts. 
