LAND BIRDS. SSI 



IS white, and without streaks. The adult female is similar to the young male, but the 

 markings not so sharp or strong, and the sides are usually washed with brownish. 

 Length 4.55 to 5.50 inches; wing 2.60 to 2.90; tail L95 to 2.25. 



262. Prothonotary Warbler. Protonotaria citrea (Bodd.). (637) 



Synonyms: Golden Warbler, Golden Swamp Warbler, Willow Warbler. — Motacilla 

 citrea, Boddaert, 1783. — Helmintliophaga citrea, Cab., 186L — Sylvia protonotarius, 

 Vieill., Wils., Bonap., Nutt., Aud.^ — Protonotaria citrea, Baird, 1859, and most subsequent 

 authors. 



Entire head, neck and under parts rich yellow or orange without streaks; 

 tail with big white patches, no wing-bars. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States, west to Nebraska and Kansas, 

 north to Virginia, southern Michigan and Iowa, casually to New England, 

 Ontario, and Minnesota; in winter, Cuba and Northern South America. 

 Breeds throughout its United States range. 



This bird reaches the northern limit of its range in IMichigan antl appears 

 to be confined almost or cjuite to the southern portions of the state. Ordi- 

 narily it is a rare bird and is met with singly or in small colonies here and 

 there in the overflowed swamps which are its peculiar habitat. In only 

 two localities in the state, so far as we are aware, has it been recorded as 

 abundant. Mr. H. W. McBride states that it was found abundantly 

 along the St. Joseph River in Motville township, St. Joseph county, Mich- 

 igan, and for a distance of three and one-half to four miles along the river 

 from White Pigeon was to be seen or heard all the time. This was in ]\Iay 

 LS91 (Butler, Birds of Indiana, LS97, pp. 1022-1023). During the summer 

 of 1907, E. R. Kalml)ach and H. A. Moorman, while on a canoe trijD down 

 the Grand River, found this beautiful warbler in numbers at certain favor- 

 able places in Jackson and Ingham counties, and in lesser numbers as far 

 as Dimondale, Eaton county. This was between June 17 and July 1, 

 and nests containing eggs were not uncommon, although others contained 

 young. 



A. B. Covert and N. A. Wood of Ann Arbor found a pair breeding in 

 the dense swamp in Lyons township, Oakland county. May 8,1896, and 

 the nest and female are now in the Museum of the University of Michigan 

 at Ann Arbor. A single specimen was noted at Grosse Pointe Farms, 

 Wayne county. May 9, 1903, Ijy A. B. Covert and A. W. lilain, and a female 

 was found dead under an electric light tower in Grand Rapids, Kent county. 

 May 13, 1905, the skin being now in the possession of H. A. Moornum. 

 In the summer of 1905 a pair of these birds occupied a mailbox or letterbox 

 fastened to a veranda post of residence No. 35 Cold water St., Kalamazoo. 

 They began nesting in the box on May 19 and five young were reared. 

 The occupant of the house, Mrs. C. A. Pierre, furnished Mr. P. A. Taverner 

 with a full account of the nesting and he also examined the nest. The 

 Kalamazoo River, bordered by a fringe of willows, flows within a few rods 

 of the l)ack of the house. 



During the summer of 1906 a pair nested in a woodpecker's hole in a 

 small tree standing in water caused by an overflow of the Grand River 

 al)out four miles north of Jackson, Jackson county. Mrs. Robert Campbell, 

 of Jackson, first saw them on May 29, and again occasionally until tlie 

 young left the nest. She says: "The song is loud and well sustainetl, 

 but not long or rythmically well marked enough for one to want to i)ut 

 words to it. The Yellow Warbler, Northern Yellowthroat anil Warbling 



