286 BIRDS OP ALABAMA 



furnished by McCormack, who collected a set of 5 fresh eggs 

 on Lagrange Mountain near Leighton, April 29, 1890. 



General habits. — The worm-eater is a characteristic bird of 

 heavy, moist, deciduous woodland, usually choosing a hillside 

 near a stream. It is a very inconspicuous bird, deliberate in 

 its movements, and with a weak song, so that it is rarely 

 noticed except by those who are looking for it. It feeds miich 

 on the ground and on fallen logs, but ascends to a moderate 

 height to deliver its song, often remaining motionless on its 

 perch for a considerable time. The song is a short, simple 

 trill, very much like that of the chipping sparrow, but less 

 vigorous in its delivery. The nest is placed on the ground in 

 heavy, deciduous woodland, generally on a hillside. It is com- 

 posed of dry leaves and lined with stalks of hair moss or with 

 fine grass or horsehair. 



Food habits. — Little is known of the food of this species, 

 but it seems doubtful whether it lives up to its name of "worm- 

 eater." Two stomachs of this bird from Alabama contained 

 remains of weevils, beetles, bugs, caterpillars, and Hymenop- 

 tera. 



BACHMAN WARBLER: Vermivora, bachmanii (Audubon). 



State records. — The Bachman warbler is one of the rarest 

 and least known of the warblers. It is perhaps most common 

 in summer in the Sunken Lands of Missouri and Arkansas, 

 where it lives in the extensive wet s\vamp8 of the region. The 

 few records of its occurrence in Alabama indicate that it 

 breeds sparingly at several widely separated localities. A. A. 

 Saunders took a single male specimen at Woodbine, March 20, 

 1908, the first record from the State.f In a small swamp 

 near Autaugaville, April 16, 1912, I secured a singing male 

 which was probably breeding in the vicinity, but his mate 

 was hot discovered.? Two years later, on May 10, 1914, in 

 Bear Swamp, not far from the spot where I secured the first 

 specimen, J. L. Peters collected another male in full song and 

 undoubtedly breeding. On Sipsey Fork, near Mellville, May 

 2 and 3, 1914, we secured two more males, possibly migrants. 



tSannders, A. A., The Auk, vol. 25, p. 421, 1908. 

 tGolsan and HoH, The Auk, vol. 81, p. 281, 1«14. 



