NORTHERN PRAIRIE WARBLER 429 



flat, grassy lands among scattered trees in the southern States in 

 winter. Wilson and Audubon both used the name, but neither of them 

 knew the bird very well, and their accounts of its nesting habits are 

 decidedly erroneous. 



The prairie warbler is one of the birds that has benefited by settle- 

 ment of the country, for the clearing away of the forests has provided 

 suitable habitats for it in brushy clearings and open sprout lands. 

 Consequently, it has greatly extended its range and increased in 

 abundance until now it is a very common bird in certain favored 

 localities. Its range is quite extensive in the eastern United States, 

 but its distribution is very spotted and its numbers seem to vary con- 

 siderably from year to year. Dr. F. A. E. Starr wrote to me a long 

 tune ago that the prairie warbler had "of late years" extended its 

 range into Ontario ; he first met with it in 1916. It seems to have been 

 very erratic in its appearance since then, for Dr. Paul Harrington, of 

 Toronto, writes to me: "At Wasaga Beach (Simcoe County), border- 

 ing Georgian Bay, the prairie warbler was a common bird in 1914—15. 

 In 1919 the birds were becoming rarer, and in 1924 only two males 

 were observed and only one deserted nest found. In 1937 the birds 

 were again fairly common, although in nothing like their former 

 abundance. The birds have decreased yearly since then, and in 1941 

 only one singing male was heard. The birds occupied only a narrow 

 strip covered with ground juniper, bordering the shore line. These 

 birds have never been observed in other apparently suitable habitats 

 further inland." 



I have noted a decided increase in the numbers of prairie warblers 

 in southeastern Massachusetts during the past 40 years. In the region 

 where I formerly hunted, we were lucky if we could find one or two 

 nests in a season; but in 1944 we could find as many as a dozen in 

 a day, if we searched thoroughly. And, driving along the old country 

 roads anywhere, if we happen to pass a brushy hillside, or an old 

 clearing that has grown up to sprout land, we are almost sure to be 

 greeted by the thin crescendo notes of this warbler, a most distinctive 

 and easily recognized song. 



Brewster (1906) gives this attractive sketch of the haunts of this 

 v;arbler near Cambridge, Mass. : 



Many and delightful were the days I used to spend looking for nests of the 

 Prairie Warbler in the hill pastures of Arlington and Belmont. These breezy 

 uplands are attractive at any season, but most so in early June when the bar- 

 berry bushes blossom. This is the time when our Prairie Warblers have full 

 sets of fresh eggs. A search for their nests among the handsome, dome-shaped 

 barberry bushes, covered with young foliage of the tenderest green, and with 

 graceful, pendant clusters of golden yellow flowers that fill the air with fragrance 

 and attract myriads of droning bees, is a fascinating and memorable experience, 

 whatever be its material results. 



