Mr. John Burroughs, of Washington, was so fortunate as to obtain the nest and eggs of this Warbler near the head-waters of the Delaware River, in Roxbury, Delaware County, N. Y. “The nest,” he writes me, “was in the edge of an old bark-peeling, in a hemlock wood, and was placed in some ferns about one foot from the ground. The nest was quite massive, its outer portions being composed of small dry stalks and leaves. The cavity was very deep, and was lined with fine black roots. I have frequently observed this Warbler in that section. About the head of the Neversink and Esopus, in the northwest part of Ulster County, New York, they are the prevailing Warbler, and their song may be heard all day long. Their song suggests that of the Kentucky Ground Warbler, but is not so loud and fine.” Mr. Burroughs states elsewhere that “the eggs, three in number, were of light flesh-color, uniformly speckled with fine brown specks. The cavity of the nest was so deep that the back of the sitting bird sank below the edge.”
Their eggs are of an oblong-oval shape, pointed at one end. They measure .75 by .55 of an inch. Their ground-color is a pinkish-white, and they are marked with dots and blotches, of varying size, of dark purplish-brown.
Geothlypis macgillivrayi, Baird.
MACGILLIVRAY’S GROUND WARBLER.
Sylvia macgillivrayi, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 75, pl. cccxcix. Trichas macg. Aud. Geothlypis macg. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 244, pl. lxxix, fig. 4; Rev. 227.—Sclater, Catal. 1861, 27 (Jalapa and Guat.).—Ib. P. Z. S. 1859, 363, 373 (Xalapa, Oaxaca).—Cab. Jour. 1861, 84 (Costa Rica).—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. Rep. XII, II, 1859, 177.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 96. Sylvicola macg. Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 118. Sylvia tolmiæi, Towns. J. A. N. Sc. 1839. Trichas tolmiæi, Nutt. Man. I. Trichas vegeta (Licht.), Bp. Consp. 1850, 310; fide Cab. Jour. 1861, 84 (Mexico).
Sp. Char. Adult male. Head and neck all round, throat and forepart of the breast, dark ash-color; a narrow frontlet, loral region, and space round the eye (scarcely complete behind), black. The eyelids above and below the eye (not in a continuous ring) white. The feathers of the chin, throat, and fore breast really black, with ashy-gray tips more or less concealing the black. Rest of upper parts dark olive-green (sides under the wings paler); of lower, bright yellow. Female with the throat paler and without any black. Length of male, 5 inches; wing, 2.45; tail, 2.45. Young not seen.
Hab. Western and Middle Provinces of United States, to northern boundary; east to Fort Laramie; south to Costa Rica.
The white eyelids of this species distinguish its males from those of G. philadelphia, in which there is a black jugular patch not seen in the present species. The females can only be known by the slenderer bill and more rounded wing, the first quill being intermediate between the fifth and sixth, instead of being considerably longer than the fifth.
The autumnal adult male is as described above, except that there is a faint tinge of green on the crown, and the ashy borders to feathers of throat and
jugulum broader, concealing more the black. The adult female in autumn is considerably more dully colored than in spring.