The female is duller than the male, but is too like him to be mistaken for the mate of any other Warbler, while he is in a class by himself. L. 5½.
Range. Nests from Florida to Delaware and southeastern Minnesota; winters in the tropics.
Washington, of irregular occurrence in May. N. Ohio, one record, May 9. Glen Ellyn, rare, spring only, May 13-15. SE. Minn., common S.R., of Mississippi bottoms, May 7-Aug. 16.
No description or illustration prepares one for the gleaming beauty of the Golden Swamp Warbler. Cypress swamps or willow-bordered sloughs, where it may nest in the opening in old stubs, are its chosen haunts, and in such places it is sometimes found in numbers. The white eggs, thickly marked with brown, are laid in May.
SWAINSON'S WARBLER
Helinaia swainsoni. [Case 5], Fig. 28
No wing-bars, plain brown above, white below. L. 5.
Range. In summer from Florida and Louisiana north to southern Illinois and southeastern Virginia; winters in the tropics.
Comparatively few bird students have seen this retiring Warbler in its haunts. "Water, tangled thickets, patches of cane, and a rank growth of semi-aquatic plants," Brewster states, seem indispensable to its existence. Its song in general effect, the same writer says, recalls that of the Northern Water-Thrush. The nest is built in bushes, canes, etc., and the white eggs are laid in May.
WORM-EATING WARBLER
Helmitheros vermivorus. [Case 7], Fig. 31
Head striped with black and buff; body unstreaked, no wing-bars. L. 5½.