34 Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 



we turned our exclusive attention to the prothonotary 

 warbler, which we found in great abundance. 



It was the most attractive inhabitant of these pic- 

 turesque woods, flying hither and thither, flashing like 

 a golden streak, brightening the whole scene before us, 

 the males making the woods fairly echo with their pene- 

 trating notes. All day we idled in our canoe, watching 

 this bird in its native haunts, now and then peeping intrO 

 a nest to learn of its household affairs, or following one 

 on a foraging expedition. Occasionally one would treat 

 us with a special concert, or two males would exhibit 

 their courage by entering into combat. The females ap- 

 parently perform all drudgeries in nest building; not 

 once did I observe a male lending the least bit of aid, 

 and yet I have no doubt but that perfect felicity reigned 

 in each household. 



Aimless paddling had eventually brought the canoe 

 into a beautiful sylvan retreat, a perfect prothonotarian 

 haunt. Seemingly all avian songsters had centered in 

 this wood, each striving to contribute his mite to the 

 chorus. The monotonous drum of a woodpecker on a 

 sun-bleached limb of a tree, the incessant singing of the 

 warbling vireo, or ditty of the nervous redstart, with 

 now and then the harsh guttural croak of a heron, or the 

 booming of a bittern which had by the inundation been 

 deprived of its abode and was now the occupant of adja- 

 cent driftwood, gave a sort of zest to this scene, the 

 home of Protonotaria citrea. Above all songsters, the 

 clear, penetrating notes of this interesting warbler were 

 audible, now coming from a point behind and echoed 

 and re-echoed by other individuals throughout the wood. 

 Even at noontide, when otherwise a silent hush prevailed, 

 the oppressive heat seeming to have dampened the spirits 

 of the most ardent singer, the drowsy drone of insects 

 being alone wafted to our ears by an occasional breeze, — 

 even then the persistent prothonotaries still continued 

 the avian concert. We lingered till the waning of thp 



