HABITS. This species is comparatively rare, and, so far as is known, has a very restricted distribution. It was first discovered by Rev. Dr. Bachman, in the vicinity of Charleston, S. C., near the banks of the Edisto River. This was in the spring of 1832. He was first attracted by the novelty of its notes, which were four or five in number and repeated at intervals of a few minutes. These notes were loud and clear, and more like a whistle than a song. They resembled the sounds of some extraordinary ventriloquist,—so much so that he at first supposed the bird to be much farther off than it really was. He was so fortunate as to secure it. The shape of the bill he at once noticed as being different from that of any other American bird then known to him. In the course of that season he obtained two other specimens. Toward the close of the same season he saw an old female, accompanied by its four young. One of the latter, which he procured, did not differ materially from the old birds. He met with them only in swampy and muddy places, and when opened, he always found their stomachs filled with fragments of coleopterous insects, as well as small green worms, such as are common on water-plants. The habits of this species most resemble those of the Prothonotary Warbler, as the latter skips among the low bushes growing about ponds or in marshy places. It is seldom seen on high trees. Nothing is known as to their nesting or eggs. GENUS HELMINTHOPHAGA, CABAN. _Helminthophaga_, CABANIS, Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 20. (Type, _Sylvia ruficapilla_, WILS.) [Line drawing: _Helminthophaga ruficapilla._ 2238] GEN. CHAR. Bill elongated, conical, very acute; the outlines very nearly straight, sometimes slightly decurved; no trace of notch at the tip, nor of bristles on the rictus. Wings long and pointed; the first quill nearly or quite the longest. Tail nearly even or slightly emarginate; short and rather slender. Tarsi longer than the middle toe and claw. The species of this section are well characterized by the attenuation and acuteness of the bill, and the absence of any notch. There are, however, considerable subordinate differences in the different species. In some the bill is larger and more acute than others; in one species, the _H. peregrina_, the wings are unusually lengthened, the tail being only about seven twelfths as long. Species and Varieties. COMMON CHARACTERS. Iris brown. Length about 5.00. Nest on the ground, in grass or dead leaves. Eggs clear white, thickest at end, with minute dots of brown of various shades and faint purple. A. Tail with a conspicuous patch of white. _a._ A black patch covering throat and breast. 1. chrysoptera. Above ash, beneath white. Forehead and a patch on the wing yellow. _Hab._ Eastern Province of United States, south to Bogota; Cuba.