266 BIRDS—SYLVICOLIDAL. 
ping their tails, like the Titlarks and Sandpipers, as they walk. They 
are rarely found in woodland, and, though in some localities they are 
said to visit towns and cities, I have never seen them except in the open 
fields. Another peculiarity is the situation of their nest, which differs 
fron that of all other members of the genus, in being placed on the 
eround. 
This species breeds from Maine northward. The site chosen is said 
usually to be the edge of a swampy thicket. The nest is small, con- 
structed of grass, fibres of bark, and moss, and lined with down and 
feathers. The eggs are yellowish- or creamy-white, blotched, chiefly 
about the greater end, with lilac, purplish, and reddish-brown. They 
measure .70 by .55. 
The description of the bird above given is sufficient to identify this 
species, but Mr. Ridgway finds certain constant differences between birds 
of the Atlantic and those of the Mississippi Valley region. In Bull. 
Nutt. Orn. Ciub, i, 1876, 81, he considers these differences and divides 
the species into two sub-species, palmarum and hypochrysea. The distinc- 
tive characters which he gives are as follows: 
‘*Sub-species palmarum —Wing, 2.35-2.65 (2.02); tail, 2,05-2.45 (2.24); bill, from nos- 
tril, .27-— 32 (.29)5 tarsus, .71-.80 (.76). Yellow of lower parts interrupted by a whitish 
abdominal area; breast streaked uniformly across, the streaks being linear aud dusky, 
with little, if any, tinge of chestnut ; lower eyelid whitish; back dull olive-brown. 
Habitat, Mississippi Valley (north to the Great Slave Lake) and West Indies. Casual 
in certain Atlantic States. 
““Sub-species hypochrysea.—Wing, 2.50-2.80 (2.69); tail, 2.25-2.55 (2.43); bill, from 
nostril, .28—.32 (.30); tarsus, .75-.80 (.79). Yellow of lower parts entirely continuous, and 
much brighter; streaks confined mostly, or wholly, to the sides of breast, broadly tear- 
shaped, wholly reddish-chestnut; lower eye-lid bright yellow; back greenish-olive. 
Habitat, Atlantic States, from East Florida to Nova Scotia.” 
Dr. Coues gives as a diagnostic mark of this species, in any plumage, 
the presence of tail spots at the tip of the two outer tail feathers only, 
but this does not hold good with var. palmarum. All specimens of my 
collection have the third feather narrowly tipped with white. This 
may prove a constant character of var. palmarum. 
DENDRa@CcA PINUS (Wils,) Bd. 
Pine-creeping Warbler. 
Dendroica pinus, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 364; Reprint, 1861, 6. 
Dendreca pinus, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 564; Reprint, 
1875, 4.LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 4; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc, Nat. 
Hist., i, 1879, 172; Reprint, 6. 
Sylvia pinus, WILSON, Am. Orn., iii, 1811, 25. 
Dendroica pinus, BAIRD, Birds N. Am., 1858, 277. 
Dendreca pinus, McILWRAITH, Proc. Ess. Inst., v, 1866, 86. 
