100 



THE OSPREY. 



especially in those lowest portions bordering the 

 rivers, where are found vast willow swamps and 

 immense tracts of huge timber, standing through the 

 greater part of the year in black and sluggish back- 

 waters, and in many places extending over a number 

 of miles. These tracts are the home of the I'rotho- 

 notary Warbler. I'robably in no other locality in 

 the great Mississippi Valley is this Warbler found in 

 greater abundance than in the timbered swamps 

 along the Illinois River, and in southern, south- 

 eastern, and western Illinois. Although a common 

 and characteristic bird in these localities in those 

 parts of the State wherein no suitable environment 

 for its nidification exists, the Prothonotary, or Golden 

 Swamp Warbler, as it is frequently and appropriately 

 called, is extremely rare. Its northern range has 

 never been exactly stated in any of the standard 

 works. Only by a comparison of local lists can this 

 be authentically ascertained or the distribution of the 

 bird definitely traced. 



When migrating, the great Mississippi Valley is 

 the highway up which these transient warblers pass, 

 until, finally reaching the mouth of the Ohio, the 

 hosts separate, immense numbers traveling up the 

 latter stream, and the rest, perhaps the majority, 

 continuing up the Mississippi. Many of those pass- 

 ing up the Ohio Valley find summer homes along its 

 numerous tributaries and around the many sloughs, 

 bayous, and lagoons in southern Illinois ; while the 

 rest, pushing on, deviate from their course only at 

 the mouth of the Wabash River. But few, if any, 

 continue up the Ohio, there being comparatively no 

 attractions for them in its valley east of the Wabash. 

 In the lower valley of the latter stream the Protho- 

 notary Warbler is exceedingly abundant, inhabiting 

 the timbered bayous and lagoons, the cypress swamps, 

 and the willow-environed lakes and ponds. Mr. 

 Wm. Brewster's account of this Warbler in Wabash 

 County, undoubtedly the most elaborate biography 

 of this species yet written, gives some idea of its 

 abundance in this attractive locality. (Bull. Nutt. 

 Ornith. Club, Vol. III. (1878), p. 155.) 



Although great numbers of this species pass up the 

 Ohio, and thus to the Wabash, undoubtedly the ma- 

 jority continue up the Mississippi, some branching 

 off at the Kaskaskia and Missouri, immense numbers 

 at the Illinois, and the rest traveling north at 41^. 



The arrival of these birds in spring is scarcely 

 noted by the casual observer. No heraldic song pro- 

 claims that they are here, and were it not for their 

 bright, gleaming color among the trees, they would 

 be entirely unobserved. 



In the latter part of April or the first of May, as 

 the locality may chance to be, if we paddle the canoe 

 along the willow-fringed banks of the river, or 

 among the trees in the back-water, we shall be very 

 sure to find a few early-arrived Prothonotaries — 

 probably old birds eager for their return to a north- 

 ern clime, or perhaps hasty and impatient migrants. 



far in advance of the hosts which are to follow, but 

 shy and silent, seemingly ashamed of being so pre- 

 mature. Their numbers rapidly increase, however, 

 as that wonderful and mysterious instinct which 

 prompts birds to semi-annual migration brings hosts 

 of them northward and drops them here and there 

 among the willows. Timidity wears away as their 

 numbers increase, and they may be seen now clinging 

 and creeping, in creeper-like manner, on moss-cov- 

 ered stumps and trunks of trees, sometimes head 

 downwards, now expanding their steel-blue tails, and 

 greatly contrasting with a background of bright 

 green moss or gray-colored bark. The males, as is 

 customary with most migratory birds, arrive first, 

 the females making their appearance shortly after- 

 ward. 



I have no data of their arrival in the extreme 

 southern end of the State. Mr. O. Widmann writes 

 that by the last week in April they become quite 

 numerous around St. Louis, Mo. It arrives at Mt. 

 Carmel, Wabash County, 111., about April 23, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Robert Ridgway (Nat. Hist. Surv. 

 111., Vol. I, p. 32.): and April ig to 27 is given by Mr. 

 Wm. Brewster, in his charming account of this bird 

 in Wabash County, as the period of spring arrivals. 

 (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club. Vol. Ill, pp. 154-155). 

 In central Illinois, the last days in April generally 

 bring a few of these birds, the bulk of them arriving, 

 however, between May i and 10. It is reported from 

 Davenport, Iowa, about the loth of May, and I find 

 a record of May 3 for its arrival in the vicinity of 

 Burlington, Iowa. (U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Economic 

 Ornith , Bull. 2, p. 239.) Northward, the arrivals 

 are a little later. Mr. H. K. Coale found a few of 

 these birds in Stark County, Ind., on the iith of 

 May, but they became more abundant on and after 

 the i8th. (Nat. Hist. Surv. 111., Vol. I, p. iig.) 



Their departure in the fall is as mysterious and as 

 quiet as their arrival in the spring There seems to 

 be a gradual falling oft in their number after the 

 breeding season, until but few are seen, and when 

 these depart, the vacancy caused by their absence is 

 hardly perceptible. The last and lingering individ- 

 uals take leave in central Illinois about the first or 

 middle of September, but whether they linger in the 

 southern part of the State or pass directly south, I 

 am unable to say. 



Soon after the arrival of the females, mating 

 begins, and at this time they are the most interesting 

 to observe. Many a love match takes place in the 

 willow woods. Should another male intrude upon 

 the scene, a conflict is certain, and should the in- 

 truder be victorious, he immediately makes love to 

 the fair one, and indifferent as she is, it is readily ac- 

 cepted. These conflicts are frequent between the 

 the male birds, even though no female be at hand, 

 the males seeming to have a fighting propensity 

 whenever they meet. I have often stopped rowing 

 my boat to watch a couple of them battling in mid- 



