18 BULLETIN 203, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



It also breeds in the Atlantic Coast States from Virginia to Florida. 



It is essentially a bird of the damp and swampy river bottoms and 

 low-lying woods, which are flooded at times and in which woodland 

 pools have been left by the receding water. Perhaps this warbler 

 abounds more than anywhere else in the valley of the lower Wabash, 

 where William Brewster (1878) found it to be — 



one of the most abundant and characteristic species. Along the shores of the 

 rivers and creeks generally, wherever the black v/illow {8alix niger) grew, a 

 few pairs were sure to be found. Among the button-bushes {Cephalanthus 

 occidentalis) that fringed the margin of the peculiar long narrow ponds scattered 

 at frequent intervals over the heavily timbered bottoms of the Wabash and 

 White Rivers, they also occurred more or less numerously. Potoka Creek, a 

 winding, sluggish stream, thickly fringed with willows, was also a favorite 

 resort; but the grand rendezvous of the species seemed to be about the shores 

 of certain secluded ponds lying in what is known as the Little Cypress Swamp. 

 Here they congregated in astonishing numbers, and early in May were breeding 

 almost in colonies. In the region above indicated two things were found to be 

 essential to their presence, namely, an abundance of willows and the immediate 

 proximity of water. * * * So marked was this preference, that the song of 

 the male heard from the woods indicated to us as surely the proximity of some 

 river, pond, or flooded swamp, as did the croaking of frogs or the peep of the 

 Hylas. 



Dr. Chapman (1907) writes of this bird in its haunts: 



The charm of its haunts and the beauty of its plumage combine to render the 

 Prothonotary Warbler among the most attractive members of the family. I 

 clearly recall my own first meeting with it in the Suwanee River region of 

 Florida. Quietly paddling my canoe along one of the many enchanting, and, 

 I was then quite willing to believe, enchanted streams which flowed through 

 the forests into the main river, this glowing bit of bird-life gleamed like a 

 torch in the night. No neck-straining examination with opera-glass pointed to 

 the treetops, was required to determine his identity, as, flitting from bush to 

 bush along the river's bank, his golden plumes were displayed as though for my 

 special benefit. 



Dr. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw (1938) says that the golden swamp 

 warbler "nests rather abundantly along southwestern-Michigan 

 rivers. * * * Winding streams, bordered densely with oak, maple, 

 ash, and elm, shallow ponds with groups of protrudnig willows and 

 flooded, heavily shaded bottom-lands are favorite nesting habitats 

 for the Prothonotary Warbler [Protonotaria citrea). Such habitats 

 occur along the banks of the Kalamazoo River and its tributary the 

 Battle Creek River in Calhoun County, Michigan." 



Territory. — The males arrive on the breeding grounds a few days 

 or a week before the females come and immediately try to establish 

 their territories, select the nesting sites, and even build nests. Dr. 

 Walkinshaw (1941) writes: 



The Prothonotary Warbler is a very strongly territorial species. When a 

 male takes possession of a certain area he continually drives off all opponents 



