WOOD WARBLERS. _ 345

should float quietly in a canoe past its haunts. Its color shows to best advantage against the dark background of its home, and its every movement is a delight to the eye.

838. Kannada swatnsonli Aud. SWAINSON’S WARBLER. Ad.—‘ Crown cinnamon—brown ; a whitish line over the eye; back, rump, wings, and tail olive grayish brown without white; under parts soiled yellowish white, grayer on the sides. L., 5'00; W., 2'75; T., 1'90; B. from N., '46.

Range—Southern United States, north to North Carolina and Missouri; south in winter to the tropics.

Mat, externally of leaves, lined with pine needles and rootlets, in bushes, canes, palmettos, and clumps of vines, from three to ten feet above the ground or surface of the water. Eggs, three to four, white, with a faint bluish tinge, '75 x ‘54 (Davie).

The history of Swainson’s Warbler is very similar to that of Bach- man’s Warbler. It was discovered by Dr. Bachman near Charleston, South Carolina, in 1832, and for somewhat over fifty years was prac- tically a lost species, but proves now to be a common bird in some parts of its range. Its rediscovery near Charleston by Mr. A. T. Wayne and Mr. Brewster is recounted by the latter in an article * which ade- quately portrays the bird, its habits and haunts. It lives on and near the ground, and, according to Mr. Brewster’s experience, four things seem indispensable to its existence—“ water, tangled thickets, patches of cane, and a rank growth of semi-aquatic plants.” Its song, which is highly ventriloquial, is described by the same author as “a series of clear, ringing whistles, the first four uttered rather slowly and in the same key, the remaining five or six given more rapidly, and in an evenly descending scale. . . . In general efiect it recalls the song of the Water Thrush (Seiurus novebomcensis). It is very loud, very rich, very beautiful, while it has an indescribable tender quality that thrills the senses after the sound has ceased.”

689. Helmithel'us vemivox'us ( (final). WORM—EATING WARBLER. (Fig. 94.) Ad.—A black line from the eye to the nape, and two on the crown from either nostril; an olive—bufi'y line over either eye, and a third through the center of the crown; back, wings, and tail olive—green without white; under parts whitish cream-buff, whiter on the throat and belly. L., 551 ; W., 2'78; T., 2-05; B. from N., ~39.

Range—Eastern United States; breeds from the Gulf States north to southern Illinois and southern Connecticut; winters in the tropics.

Washington, quite common S. R., Apl. 28 to Sept. Sing Sing, common S. R., May 7 to Aug. 23. Cambridge, A. V., one instance, Sept.

Nest, of rootlets, leaves, and bark, on the ground. Eggs, four to six, white, speckled, spotted, or blotehed with cinnamon- or rufous—brown, '68 x '54.

* The Auk, ii. 1885, pp. 65—80 ; see also ibid., pp. 3464348, and also Perry, Om. and 06]., xi, 1886, p. 188; xii, 1887, p. 141.