NASHVILLE WARBLER. 
263 
NASHVILLE WARBLER. 
Helminthophila ruficapilla. 
Char. Above, olive, brighter on rump ; head ashy gray, with con- 
cealed patch of reddish brown ; yellow ring around the eyes ; beneath, 
bright yellow, paler on the belly ; sides shaded with olive. Length to 
5 inches. 
A’est. Amid a tuft of weeds in pasture or open woodland ; composed 
of leaves and vegetable fibre, lined with grass, pine-needles, or hair. 
3-5 (usually 4) ; white or creamy, marked with fine spots of 
reddish brown and lilac ; 0.60 X 0.50. 
This rare species was discovered by Wilson in the vicinity of 
Nashville in Tennessee ; it also exists in the neighboring States 
in* summer, and occasionally proceeds as far north as Philadel- 
phia, and even the neighborhood of Salem in this State [Mas- 
sachusetts]. Its discoverer was first attracted to it by the 
singular noise which it made, resembling the breaking of small 
dry twigs, or the striking together of joebbles, for six or seven 
times in succession, and loud enough to be heard at the dis- 
tance of thirty or forty yards. A similar sound, produced, no 
doubt, by the smart snapping of the bill, is given by the Stone- 
chat of Europe, — which hence, in fact, derives its name. Au- 
dubon says, the male, while standing in a still and erect posture, 
utters a few low, eagerly repeated, creaking notes. This spe- 
cies has all the active habits of the family to which it more 
particularly belongs. Audubon says that these birds are not 
in fact rare, as he saw them in considerable numbers in the 
month of April, towards Texas, on their way eastward ; he also 
saw them in Maine and the Provinces of New Brunswick and 
Nova Scotia. A few proceed to Labrador, and Dr. Richardson 
mentions the occurrence of a straggler in the fur countries. 
However rare the Nashville may have been when Nuttall lived 
in Cambridge, it is not a rare bird here to-day. It is, indeed, a 
common summer resident throughout New England and the Mari- 
tine Provinces, and occurs in more or less abundance westward to 
Manitoba. It winters south to Mexico and Guatemala. 
On the arrival of these birds in the spring they frequent the sub- 
