!•] 
Coues, Nesting of the Prairie Warbler. 
405 
smaller and having the ground color above buffy-brown rather than 
gravish-brown. All the lighter areas of the plumage (including crissum, 
under wing-coverts and lining of wings) suffused with pinkish buff. 
Dimensions (average of eight adults): wing, 3.04; tail, 2.46; tarsus, 
0.79; culmen, 0.46; bill from nostril, 0.31 inch. 
Habitat. Salem, Oregon. 
NESTING OF THE PRAIRIE WARBLER. {DEN- 
DR OIC A DISCOLOR) IN THE VICINITY 
OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 
BY ELLIOTT BAIRD COUES. 
Although common throughout the District of Columbia, this 
beautiful little bird nests more abundantly in certain suitable 
localities than in others. One of these breeding-places was dis- 
covered by my friend, Mr. T. W. Richards, and myself last 
spring, and I have pleasure in laying before the readers of ‘The 
Auk’ the results of our joint observations. 
The locality is along the Potomac River, on the Virginia side, 
about seven miles from the city, among some small hills from 
which all the large trees have been cut away, and which are 
now grown up to a thick scrub of hickory, dogwood, and 
laurel {Kalmia latifolia), with here and there a few young 
pines and cedars. Here were found breeding within a small 
area an astonishing number of the birds, perhaps more than fifty 
pairs. On reaching the place, they could be heard singing on 
all sides, sometimes several at the same moment. Among them 
were a few Yellow-breasted Chats {let aria virens ), but our 
whole attention was directed to the Warblers. On our first 
visit, May 23 , we found one nest ; but on two subsequent visits, 
a week later, many more than we cared to take were easily 
found, witli full sets of eggs. They were so numerous and so 
readily discovered that to take all we desired was simply a mat- 
ter of walking about in the bushes. The nests were only a few 
feet from the ground, and were placed preferably in the hickory 
and dogwood bushes. Only three nests were found in the young 
pines, and one in a cedar bush. During the heat of the day the 
