610 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
taken on the east slope of the Sandia Mountains, at about 7,500 feet, about 15 
miles northeast of Albuquerque. The birds were quite numerous in that locality 
at the time (Ligon). At Lake Burford it was common May 23 to June 19, 
1918, and an incubating female was taken on June 16 (Wetmore).] 
All other records are in migration. In the fall migration it has been 
noted August 3,1908, on Animas Peak at 7,500 and 8,000 feet (Birdseye); August 13, 
1904, Arroyo Hondo, 8,000 feet (Gaut); August 15, 1904, fully grown young in 
autumn plumage near Questa, 8,100 feet (Bailey); August 20, 1903, in the pines on 
Sierra Grande (Howell); one August 23, 1886, at Apache, 5,000 feet (Anthony); 
a few about September 6, 1908, in the Florida Mountains at 5,200 feet, and two, 
September 11, 1909, in the San Mateo Mountains near the lower part of Monica 
Canyon (Goldman); one taken and three seen September 11, 1913, in foothills, 
Colfax County (Kalmbach); noted September 15, 1874, Tierra Amarilla (Henshaw); 
and September 16, 1899, Albuquerque (Birtwell). 
In spring the first were noted at Cooney April 10, 1889 (Barrell); Mesilla Park, 
April 25 (Ford); Rinconada, April 26, 1904 (Surber); and during migration it was 
found common April 19-29 near Silver City (Hunn).—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —On the ground under a bush or tuft of grass, made of rootlets, fine straws, 
and fibers, loosely put together. Eggs: 4 or 5, ground color white, lightly wreathed 
around larger end with specks and spots of reddish and purplish brown, a few spots 
scattered over the rest of the surface. 
General Habits. —This small, inconspicuous, gray Warbler might 
well have difficulty in keeping track of its friends and family as they 
move quickly about in the underbrush, which it frequents, were it not 
for the flashes of yellow from its tail coverts, not alone the upper 
coverts, which are yellow in many Warblers, but distinctively and more 
helpfully, both the upper and lower coverts. 
In summer, Mr. Aiken says, the Virginia is found in scrub oak 
brush on hillsides up to about 7,500 feet; but in the migration it is 
found in the pines and among cottonwoods and willows bordering 
streams (Coues). In the Hondo Valley thickets bordering irrigation 
ditches, on August 13, 1904, we repeatedly heard a light “tchack” 
suggesting a Western Yellow-throat, but the shy, secretive birds 
eluded us. Finally, however, a molting adult virginiae was secured. 
At Lake Burford Doctor Wetmore found it “ common among the thickets 
of small oaks in the gulches and on the higher slopes around the lake, 
but so secretive that it was difficult to observe. The males often sang 
from the tops of tall yellow pines, where they chose a hidden perch and 
remained motionless. When disturbed by some one moving about 
below, they flew off for some distance, sometimes remaining in the 
pines and continuing to sing, or again pitching down into the under¬ 
growth where they were hidden from sight” (1920a, p. 408). 
During the nesting season,' Mr. Aiken says, “the male is very 
musical . . . uttering his swee ditty continually as he skips 
through the bushes in search of his morning repast; or, having satisfied 
his appetite, he mounts to the top of some tree in the neighborhood 
