30 
NATURE STUDY. 
days’ lingering in a locality is sufficient to make one conclude 
that the bird will nest thereabouts. And therefore we conclude 
that the Blue yellow-back will be found nesting in a locality 
where I have never known him to nest before, as the bird ten¬ 
ants in that vicinity are well known to me. 
Compsothlypis americana, or Parula warbler, commonly called 
Blue yellow-backed warbler, has upper parts grayish blue ; back 
with greenish yellow patch ; two noticeable, white wing bars, a 
bright yellow throat, with its center deeply marked by rufous 
line ; breast and belly white, outer tai) feathers with white patch 
near the end. 
This warbler makes one of the daintiest nests of the bird 
kind. It is made of the long gray-green moss found on dead 
larches, or hemlocks, and one has recently been donated to our 
“ Institute ” collections, which was found near Mosquito Pond. 
It is tiny, simple and beautiful in its completeness, the sole 
material, the moss, being wound round the dead lichen-covered 
hemlock, in such a manner as to most ingeniously deceive the 
casual observer. What a delight the finder of this unusually 
artistic nest must have experienced ! 
A Supposed New Flea. 
BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 
Ceratopsyllus talpalis : sp. nov. Eyes small, indistinct; comb¬ 
like row of spines beneath head and on apical margin of 
prothorax ; spines of latter depressed, equal, wider than spaces 
between, obtusely pointed at apex, four times longer than wide.; 
abdominal stigmata distinct, sub-ventral, at apical fourth of each 
segment ; excavation of anal segment dorsal, shallow, elongate, 
arcuate ; claws cleft, finely serrate. Length 2 millimeters. Para¬ 
sitic on Scalops aquaticus, the common mole of the Eastern 
States. 
The comb-like rows of spines beneath the head and on the 
