Life History of the Prothonotary Warbler. 29 



beiiio- produced where the two colors combine. The mark- 

 ings extend over the whole surface in small blotches and 

 spots, and at the larg;er ends are so confused that the 

 ground is partly obscured. 



Set V. Six eg-gs. Ground glossy white, spotted, 

 speckled, and minutely blotched with varying shades of 

 chestnut and lilac. The markings are thickest around 

 the larger ends, but they are defined, and nowhere do 

 they obscure the ground by blending. 



Set VI. Four eggs. These specimens are not pretty, 

 but are smeared and blotched with light brown and buff, 

 the ground, where visible, being of a dirty white. Very 

 little, if any, lilac appears. 



Set VII. Four eggs. These eggs have comparatively 

 few markings. Each of them has a wreath around the 

 larg-er end and a blotch on one side. The wTeath in two 

 of the eggs is quite distinct, and the blotch quite dark 

 and bold, ihe latter being dark lilac overlaid with 

 dark chestnut, and the former light chestnut and pale 

 lilac. The third specimen is semi- wreathed, and has a 

 trace of the blotch on one side; while the fourth has a 

 distinct wreath of lilac blotches, and the china-white 

 background sprinkled all over with light chestnut. The 

 ground of the first three is of a pinkish cast, the slight 

 marking being at the larger ends. 



I have never found the markings to consist of more 

 than two colors, lilac and chestnut, each varying in 

 tints and shades in the different eggs. The lilac mark- 

 ings are often styled "shell markings" from their appear- 

 ance of being within the shell, and are frequently so dim 

 that they are barely perceptible. In the majority of 

 specimens having blotches, the chestnut overlaps the 

 lilac, producing a purple effect. 



The typical shell is china white, very glossy, and quite 

 thick and strong. Occasionally a calcareous shell is 

 found, but these are always of yellowish cast, and very 

 slightly, if at all, marked with pale lilac. A fresh egg is 

 of a beautiful pinkish color, which is lost upon blowing 

 the specimen. Albinism frequently occurs. I have found 



