PROTHONOTARY WARBLER 23 



The eggs vary in shape from ovate to short ovate, and they are more 

 or less glossy. The eggs are undoubtedly the most striking of the 

 warblers' eggs, with their rich creamy, or rose-tinted cream, ground 

 color, boldly and liberally spotted and blotched with "burnt umber," 

 "bay," "chestnut brown," and "auburn," intermingled with spots and 

 undertones of "light Payne's gray," "Kood's lavender," "violet-gray," 

 and "purplish gray." There is quite a variation in the amount of 

 markings, which are generally more or less evenly scattered over the 

 entire egg ; some are sparingly spotted and blotched, while others are 

 so profusely marked as almost to obscure the ground color (Harris) . 



J. P. Norris (1890b), in his description of his 70 sets, describes 2 

 eggs in each of 2 sets as "unmarked, save for four or five indistinct 

 specks of cinnamon." These were in sets of 6 eggs each. Pure white, 

 unmarked eggs were once taken by E. M. Barnes ( 1889) . Dr. Walkin- 

 shaw (1938) gives the measurements of 78 eggs as averaging 18.47 

 by 14.55 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measured 

 20 by 15, 19 by 16, and 17 by 13 millimeters. 



Incubation. — The eggs are laid, usually one each day, very early 

 in the morning; Dr. Walkinshaw (1941) says between 5 : 00 and 7 : 00 

 a. m. in Michigan; Meyer and Nevius (1943), in Tennessee, saw the 

 female enter the nest to lay as early as 5 : 00 a. m. on May 2, and as 

 early as 4 : 44 on May 23, remaining in the nest from 28 to 36 minutes 

 on different occasions. The period of incubation is recorded as 12, 

 131/^, and 14 days by different observers; about 13 seems to be the 

 average, according to Dr. Walkinshaw (MS.), probably depending on 

 conditions and the method of reckoning. Incubation seems to be per- 

 formed entirely by the female, but the male feeds her to some extent 

 while she is on the nest. Incubation starts the day before the last 

 egg is laid. 



Young. — Meyer and Nevius (1943) write: 



The adults shared feeding duties, and both removed fecal sacks. During the 

 first three days the female steadily brooded the young. One female, observetl 

 from 4 : 55 to 8 : 10 a. m., when the young were one day old, spent a total of 70 

 minutes off and 155 minutes on the nest. Trips from the nest lasted an average 

 of 8.6 minutes, while periods on the nest averaged 19.4 minutes. * * * At 

 one nest when the young were eight days old, activities were noted during the 

 eight and one-half hours from 8 : 30 a. m. to 5 : 30 p. m. The young were fed 

 an average of 16 times an hour. * * * The adults were seen carrying spiders 

 and insects, small green caterpillars frequently being used. Mr. H. P. Ijams saw 

 a male offer a 10-day old nestling a mayfly. An incubator-hatched bird accepted 

 egg-yolk, ants, ant larvae, crickets, earthworms, and spiders. 



They say of the development of the young : "The young on the day 

 of hatching had orange-red skin. The mouth lining was red. Down 

 was distributed over the frontal and occipital areas of the capital tract, 

 spinal tract, femoral, altar, and humeral tracts. Feather sheaths of 



