DENDECECA DISCOLOR, PEAIRIE WARBLER. G3 



Mayn. — Pr. Bost. Soc. xiv, 1871 (Umbagog, breeding). — Coues, Key, 1872, 102, 

 fig. 44 ; and of all late local writers of Eastern United States. 

 Sylvia magnolia, Wils., Am. Orn. ill, 1811, 63, pi. 23, f. 3. 



Sab. — Eastern North America ; in summer, New England to Hudson's Bay ; migratory 

 through the States; in winter, beyond the United States, as above quoted. 

 Lieutenant JVarren^s Expedition. — 4(i43,, month of Vermilion River. 

 Not obtained by Captain Rayu olds' Expedition. 



Mr. C. J. Maynard lias given us an excellent accouut of the nest and 

 eggs of this species. A nest, taken the second week in June, 1870, at 

 Umbagog, " was placed on the forked branch of a low spruce, about 

 three feet from the ground, on a rising piece of land, leading from a 

 wood-path. The nest, which contained four eggs, was constructed of 

 dry grass, spruce twigs, roots, etc., and was lined with fine black roots, 

 the whole being a coarse structure for so dainty looking a Warbler. 

 The eggs were more spherical than any Warbler's I have ever seen. 

 The ground color is a creamy-white, blotched sparingly over with large 

 spots of lilac and umber." The dimensions of these eggs were : 0,G2 by 

 0;52, 0.61 by 0.52, 0.02 by 0.50, 0.63 by 0.52 (hundredths of the inch). 

 Another nest, taken June 8, 1871, was on a low hemlock, about four feet 

 from the ground. " It is composed outwardly of a few scattered dead 

 twigs of larch, interwoven with stalks of weeds and dry grass. It is 

 lined with black horse-hair; this dark lining formed a strange contrast 

 with the faded appearance of the outer i)art. The whole structure is 

 very light and airy in appearance, strongly reminding one of the nest of 

 D. pemisylvanica. Dimensions of the nest are : External diameter three 

 inches, internal diameter two, external depth one and three-fourths, in- 

 ternal depth one and one-fourth." The four eggs in the nest measured 

 0.65 by 0.50, 0.62 by 0.47, 0.64 by 0.46, 0.65 by 0.48. They were ashy- 

 white, blotched and clouded with brown and lilac, chiefly around and 

 about the larger end, and sparsely dotted with brown elsewhere 5 they 

 differed in the size and amount of the brown spottings. Two other 

 nests are also described, which, with their eggs, were similar to the 

 others in every essential respect. 



DENDECECA DISCOLOR, (Vieill.) Bd. 



Prairie AVarbler. 



Sylvia discolor, Vn:iLL., Ois. Am. Sept. ii, 1807, 37, pi. 98.— Bp., Syn. 1828, 83.— Nutt., 

 Man. i, 1832, "294" (by error for 394).— Aud., Orn. Biog. i, 1831, 76, pi. 14.— 

 Lemij., Aves Cubae, 1850, 32, pi. 0, f. 2. 



Sylvicola discolor, Jakd., ed. Wils., 1832.— Rich., List, 1837.— Bi'., List, 1838.— AuD., 

 Syn. 1839.— Aui)., B. Am. ii, 1841, 68, pi. 97.— Gossk, B. Jam. 1847, lij9. 



MniotiUa discolor, Guay, Genera of Birds. 



Iiliiman})hnH discolor, Ca15., J. f. O. iii, 1855. 474 (Cuba, winter). 



Dendrwcu discolor, Bu., B. N. A. 1858, 290 ; Rev. 186G, 213.— Bhyaxt, Pr. Bost. Soc. vii, 

 1859 (Bahamas).— Newton, Ibis, i, 1859, 144 (St. Croix).— Gundl., J. f O. 1861, 

 326 (Cuba). — Allex, Pr. Ess. Inst, iv, 1864, 64 (Massachusetts, usually rare). — 

 CouES, ihid. V, 1868, 274 (north to Massachusetts, common). — Coues, Pr. Bost. 

 Soc. xii, 1868, 110 (South Carolina).— CoUES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1871, 20 (coas-t 

 of North Carolina, very numerous). — CoUES, Key, 1872, 103. — Allen, Bull. M. 

 C. Z. ii, 1871, 268 (undoubtedly resident in Florida in the whole year) ; iii, 1872, 

 125 (Kansas, May, r^ither freipient). 



Sylvia minuta, Wils., Am. Orn. iii, 1811, 87, pi. 25, f. 4. 



Hal). — Eastern United States, as far north as Massachusetts ; west to Kansas. Broed.s 

 throughout its range. Winters in Florida, aud ;il>undantly in most of tho West 

 Indian islands. No Mexican nor Central American record. 



The pretty little Prairie Warbler was one of my earliest bird-acquaint- 

 ances, and one I liavc always been fond of, on this and other accounts. 

 When we were shooting birds pretty much all tho time we could lind, or 



