46 
HELMITHERTJS VERMIVORUS. 
Color. Adult. Above, uniform olivaceous-green with the top of the head black, but having a medium and 
superciliary stripe of buff. Beneath, pale bulf becoming olivaceous on the sides and flanks. Under tail coverts 
olivaceous margined with buff. Sides of head buff, with the lores and ear coverts dusky. 
The young are scarcely different. The nestlings (one of which was loaned me by Mr. W. W. Scote) are paler 
with a reddish suffusion throughout. The stripes on the head are plainly defined. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Unfortunately, the only tongue of this species which I have has the tip shot away so that I cannot say whether 
it is cleft or not, but judging from the general appearance it was evidently not ciliated on the end. The only 
specimen which I have from Florida is much paler than those from further north. This species may be distinguished 
from all other warblers by the plain colors, excepting the closely allied species QH. Swainsoni ) which has the top of 
the head uniformly colored. This bird is rare in Florida, but Prof. Baird informs me that it is common about 
Aqua Creek in Eastern Virginia; Mr. Scote found it abundant in Western Virginia, and Mr. J. H. Batty states that 
it is not uncommon in Northern New Jersey. Distributed throughout Eastern United States north to New England. 
Winters in Florida, the West Indies and Mexico. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of five specimens taken, with a single exception, from birds captured in Western Virginia. 
Length, 5-40; stretch, 8-25; wing, 2-60; tail, 1-80; bill, *51; tarsus, -65. Longest specimen, 5-50; greatest extent 
of wings, 8-40; longest wing, 2-70: tail, 1-90; bill, -55; tarsus, '65. Shortest specimen, 5‘00; smallest extent of 
wings, 5-30; shortest wing, 2-55; tail, 1-25; bill, -50; tarsus, -60. 
DESCRIPTION OF NEST AND EGGS. 
Nest placed on the ground; composed of dried grasses, fibrous roots and a few dried leaves. It was large for 
the size of the bird. 
Eggs , four in number; rather elliptical in form, spotted and dotted with reddish-brown, but more thickly on the 
larger end. Dimensions of a single egg in the collection of Mr. Ruthven Deane, - 73x-56. 
The foregoing descriptions were made from a nest taken by Mr. J. H. Batty, on the eastern slope of the 
Orange Mountains near Montelan, in New Jersey. This is the first and only instance of its being taken that has 
come to my knowledge. 
HABITS. 
The stream which forms the outlet of Blue Spring enters the St. John’s River about 
twenty-five miles north of Enterprise. This is a singular spot, and if one is travelling up the 
St. John’s in a small boat he can scarcely resist the temptation to enter this tributary and 
explore it to its source. The iustant we leave the turbid current of the larger stream we seem 
suspended in air, for the water beneath us becomes as transparent as the atmosphere; indeed, 
small objects may be plainly seen on the bottom although it is twenty feet below. Large 
gar-pikes and hundreds of other fishes swim below us, and the huge ungainly form of an 
alligator may be seen reposing on the white shelly bottom. 
Glancing forward we can look up a long vista of greenish, sunlit water, which is bounded 
on either side by moss-draped live oaks, glossy-leaved magnolias, and many other verdant trees 
or shrubs; while higher on the banks, which rise abruptly to the height of twenty feet, grow the 
stately palmettoes. The whole are grouped in a picturesque manner while their beauties are 
reflected from the calm surface beneath. Onward we go past long lines of scenery like this 
which, although composed of the same materials, is ever varying in form. The stream preserves 
the same width, that of about fifty feet, but after making several turns the water becomes 
shallower; then, when we have proceeded for about a quarter of a mile, a bank as high as those 
which have hitherto risen on either hand, obstructs our passage, and we find ourselves in the 
spring, with the water boiling up in front of us as if heated in an immense caldron. The 
aqueous fluid is thrown out from the vast opening in such volumes and so forcibly, that it is 
heaped up at least six inches above the surrounding surface. The cavity is fully twelve feet 
iu diameter, and many thousand gallons of water are discharged in a moment; in fact, a river 
