•The PrOthonotary W^irbler (ProtonotarmrUrea) 



By W. Leon Dawson 



Length: ")'4 inches. 



Range: Eastern United States, west of Nebraska and Kansas, north to \ ir- 

 ginia, Michigan and Iowa, casually to New England. 



Colors: Ilciid, neck and breast, bright orange-yelluw ; bliic-gray wings rninji 

 and tail; bill, black; tail with white spots near the tip. 



Pre-eminent in a galaxy of beauties is this truly "golden" warbler of the 

 swamps. He does not come over hill and dale with a rush and flutter of wings 

 and a nervous anxiety to get on, such as characterizes most of the northern 

 migrants, but proceeds rather in leisurely fashion along the valleys of the larger 

 streams. Sedate in movement and fearless, but not hold, in bearing, this rare 

 bird appears to bring with him something of the languorous air of the Southland 

 from which he hails. His chosen haunts, too, flooded lowland woods, are even 

 more strongly suggestive of those watery fastnesses of the south, where the 

 species is found in greatest abundance. 



The Prothonotary Warbler is, so far as known, the only one of the family 

 to build regularly in holes in trees. We infer that it has drifted into this custom 

 within zoologically recent years, since its eggs are unusually dark colored, while 

 those of all strictly hole-nesting birds arc pure white. The eggs of this warbler 

 exhibit two types of coloration, with, of course, every variety of intermediate 

 form. Those of the first type are heavily and rather evenly spotted and dotted 

 with dull brown, and show pale lavender shell-marks. The other sort are boldly 

 blotched with reddish brown so heavily at times that the ground color is nearly 

 obscured. 



According to Professor Butler, the females constnict the nests and perform 

 all the duties of incubation. A few days are allowed to elapse after the comple- 

 tion of the nest before laying begins. An egg is laid each day until the set is 

 complete, and two broods are often reared each season, especially southerly. 



During the mating season the males are exceedingly irascible. One hapless 

 wight I saw, who, choosing the wrong platform for his song, was set upon 

 vigorously by a jealous rival. At the first onslaught the pair fell fighting to the 

 ground. They picked themselves up hastily, and one, probably the original 

 assailant, chased the other about for as much as three minutes. In and out they 

 wound, now coming straight toward one like golden bullets, now threading the 

 mazes of a tree-top like flashes of fire. But the fugitive was plucky, too, for a 

 fashion, and although he thought of nothing but flight, it was always within the 

 bounds of the disputed territory. Finally the chase languished somewhat, and I 

 left the contestants, faint yet pursuing. 



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