262 BIRDS—SYLVICOLIDA. 
Muskingum. Here, May 10, 1876, I found them abundant in the same 
situations as above described, and think it not unlikely. that a consider- 
able number of the birds breeding about Cleveland migrate by way of 
the Muskingum Valley. 
During the breeding season they are to be found on the banks of the 
smaller streams and creeks, or if about larger rivers, near the swift 
channels forming islands, where the sycamore trees reach far over the 
water. In ravines where there is but little water they may also be 
found, but the necessary sycamore tree is always present. Though I 
have never discovered the nest and eggs, 1 have seen the parents feed 
their young in the latter week in June and first in July. I have no 
description of the nest and eggs of var. albilora Mr. Brewster (Bull. 
Nutt. Orn Club, 11, 1877, 102) gives an interesting account of var. 
dominica, from which I extract the following description of the nest and 
eggs. “This nest was placed at the height of thirty-five feet from 
the ground, on the stout horizontal branch of a southern pine, in a 
thinly scattered grove or belt that stretched along the side of a densely 
wooded hummock. It was set flatly on the limb—not saddled to 
it—nearly midway between the juncture with the main trunk and the 
extremity of the twigs, and was attached to the rough bark by silky 
fibres. It 1s composed externally of a few short twigs and strips of bark 
bound together by Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) and a silky down 
from plants. The lining consists of a few hair like filaments of moss 
and soft cottony vegetable down. The whole structure is neatly and 
firmly compacted, though essentially simple in appearance, and, from the 
nature of the component materials, of a grayish inconspicuous color. It 
measures externally 2.80 inches in diameter by 1.70 in depth; inter- 
nally 1.77 inches in diameter by 1.30 in depth. ‘The eggs, four in num- 
ber, measure .69 by .538 of an inch. They are quite regularly ovate, with 
fine dottings of pale lilac scattered thinly and evenly ever a grayish- 
white ground color. A few spots or blotches of burnt sienna occur about 
the larger ends, while occasional irregular pen-like lines of dark brown 
diversify the remaining surface.” Other nests are described as being 
constructed in a mass of Spanish moss, the cavity being lined with moss, 
grasses, and plant down. 
Young birds in September resemble adults, but are of a considerably 
lighter shade and softer tone in color, the black streaks somewhat ob- 
scured and softened by whitish edgings, and the whole bird presenting 
a richer and cleaner appearance. 
