396 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
were again soon added, and the young brood, I believe, 
reared without any accident. 
The nest was scarcely distinguishable from that of the 
Summer Yellow Bird, being fixed in a trifid branch (not 
pensile), and formed of strips of inner red-cedar bark 
and Asclepias fibres, also with some caterpillars’ silk, and 
thickly lined with cud-weed down (Gnaphalium planta - 
gineum) and slender tops of bent-grass ( Agrostis — sp.) 
The eggs, 4 or 5, were white, rather sharp at the lesser 
end, marked with spots of lilac-purple, and others of two 
different shades of brown rather numerous at the great 
end, where they appear almost collected together into a 
circle. The nest, according to Audubon, like that of 
the Vireos, is pendulous from two twigs, or 3 or 4 blades 
of grass, and is coated externally with gi*ey lichens. The 
great difference in the nest, described by Wilson and 
Audubon, is to me unaccountable ; my opportunity for 
examination, so long continued, seemed to preclude the 
possibility of error in the investigation ; neither can I 
compare the slender note of this species to any whirring 
sound, which would more nearly approach to the song 
of the Pine Warbler. They visit this part of Massachu- 
setts about the first or second week in May, and, ac- 
cording to the observations of my friend Mr. Cooper, are 
seen probably about the same time in the vicinity of New 
York, in small numbers, and in pairs, and retire to winter 
in the West Indies, about the middle of September. 
The Prairie Warbler is about 5 inches in length, and 7 in alar ex- 
tent. Above yellow-olive, inclining to green, and considerably 
brighter on the crown ; a few pale bay spots mingled with the olive 
on the upper part of the back. From the nostrils, over and under 
the eye, yellow. Lores black. Below rich yellow ; vent pale yel- 
low.. Wings dusky ; coverts edged and tipt with pale yellow ; quills 
and dusky tail edged with yellow olive. 
