PROTHONOTARY WARBLER 53 



Nesting Site. — "It always nests on the ground, generally on a 

 steep hillside in the woods. A stream of water or a swamp seem to 

 be a desirable condition." (Jackson.^) 



Ladd* states that the nest is placed at the foot of either a sapling 

 or small bush, not necessarily on a hillside but sometimes on level 

 ground in open places with little shade. 



Nest. — "The nest is invariably lined with the red flower stalks 

 of the hair moss ( PolytricMnm)." (Jackson.^) Ladd confirms this 

 habit and adds: "Sometimes fine grass and horse-hair are used as 

 part of the lining." The body or outside of the nests is composed of 

 leaves only. Nests taken by J. N. Clark at Saybrook, Connecticut 

 (C. W. C.) are composed of decayed leaves and lined with stems of 

 maple seeds. 



^SS^- — 3 to 6, usually 4 or 5. Ground color white with a wide 

 variation in markings from sparingly to profusely marked with spots, 

 specks, and blotches of chestnut, lavender, light and dark reddish, 

 with a tendency to form wreaths around the larger end, but in most 

 cases a nearly evenly marked egg. In shape some are rounded oval 

 and others much pointed. Size : average, .69X.53 ; extremes, .75X.58, 

 .64X.48. (Figs. 9-1 1.) 



Nesting Dates.— Iredell County N. C, May 10 (J. P. N.) ; West 

 Chester, Pa.. May 26- June 15 (Jackson) : Waynesburg, Pa., May 

 16- June IT (Jacobs): New York City. May 20 (F. M. C.) ; New 

 Haven, Conn., May 25-Tune 19 (Bishop). 



Biographical References 



(i) R. RiDGWAY, Field and Forest, i, 1875. lO- (2) Wm. Brewster, Obser- 

 vations on the Birds of Ritchie County, West Virginia, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist., 

 N. Y., XI, 1875, 134. (3) T. H. Jackson, Nesting of the Worm-eating Warbler 

 [in S. E. Pa.], Orn. and 061., XI, 1886, 156. (4) S. B. Ladd, Nesting of the 

 Worm-eating Warbler [in S. E. Pa.], Orn. and 061., XII, 1887, no; (5) A 

 Series of Eggs of the Worm-eating Warbler, Ibid, 149. (6) F. L. Burns, The 

 Worm-eating Warbler [in Penn.], Bird-Lore, VII, 1905, 137. (7) J. P. 

 N [orris], a Series of Eggs of the Worm-eating Warbler, Orn. and 061., XV, 

 1890, 118. (8) E. P. Bicknell, a Study of the Singing of our Birds, Auk, I, 

 1884, 210. 



Genus PROTONOTARIA Baird 



Protonotaria citrca, the single species contained in this genus, 

 has the bill long, stout, aculeate, the upper mandible nearly straight 

 but somewhat decurved at the slightly notched tip, the ridge of 

 culmen is pronounced and slightly parts the feathers of the forehead, 



