WORM-EATING WARBLER. 
H®LMITHERUS VERMIvoRrUS (Gm.) Bp.. 
W orm-eatineg Warbler. 
Sylvia vermivora, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1833, 163, 162. 
Helinaia vermivora, AUDUBON, ii, 1841, 36. 
Vermivora pennsylvanica, RwAD, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei. Philad., vi, 1853, 395. 
Helmitherus vermivorus, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 363; Reprint, 1&61, 5; 
Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agri. sep. for 1874, 563; Reprint, 1075, Buen D, BREWER, 
and RmpGway, N. A. Birds, i, 1874, 188.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Uin,, 1677,5; Jour. 
Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1,1878, 112; Reprint, 3; Revised List, Jour. Cin, Soc. Nat. Hist., 
Ly INeADE CEB Reprint, EU ce an. Tenth, 1878, 60. 
Motacilla vermivora, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 95. 
Sylvia vermivora, LATHAM, Ind. Orn., 11, 1790, 544. 
Vermivora pennsylvanica, ‘‘Swainson,” BONAPARTE, List, 1838, 20. 
Helmitheros vermivora, BONAPARTE, Consp. Av., 1, 1850, 314. 
Helmitherus vermivorus, BAIRD, Birds N. A. 189%, 252. 
{ 
Above olive, below buffy, paler or whitish on the belly; head buif, with four sharp 
black stripes, two along sides of crown from bill to nape, one along each side of head 
through the eye; wings and tail olivaceous, unmarked. Bill and feet pale. 
5¢; wing 233 tail 2. 
Habitat, Eastern United States; north to Connecticut Valley, casually to Maine; west 
to Missouri, Kansas, and Indian Territory ; south in winter to Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, 
Mexico, Cenira!l America. 
Length 
Rare summer resident. Arrives the last week in April and departs in 
August. Of the Worm-eating Warbler, there is little to be said. Dur- 
ing its spring migration it 1s sometimes seen in low woodlands, generally 
on the ground searching for food. When disturbed its flics to the lower 
branches of a tree and remains silent and quiet, much as a Thrush. 
Their favorite breeding places are solitary ravines or glens near water, 
usually where ferns and moss abound. When at home they may be 
seen scratching the leaves on the ground, or rustling the leaves of a 
fallen tree in search of worms and spiders. Sometimes they mount to 
the higher branches where their actions are much those of the Vireos. 
On the ground, or on the lower limbs of trees, they walk, and their appear- 
ance is much that of the Water Thrushes, except the tipping of the tail. 
They are rather unsuspicious and silent, the only note I have ever heard 
was a rather sharp ‘chip.’ 
The nest is placed on the ground in a depression of a hillside or beside 
afallen log. It is composed of leaves and lined with moss The eggs 
are four, white, rather sparsely dotted with ae a and measure 
about .74 by .62. 
The young in first plumage are described by Mr. Ridgway (Bull, iii, 
1878, 23,) as being of a buff color, with two badly defined stripes of gray- 
ish-brown on the head and a narrow streak of the same behind the eye. | 
Primaries and their coverts, and tail feathers, as in the adult. 
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