212 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 89 



FIELD NOTES 



NESTING OF PROTHONOTARY WARBLER NEAR 

 HURON, OHIO. 



The prothouotary warbler was first seen by me, in Huron, on 

 April 27, 1913, when one was found singing in an orchard, where 

 it stayed until May 3. On May 4 one was found singing on the 

 Cedar Point sandspit. 



On May 22, 1914, one was found singing in town. It was seen 

 nearly evei-y day until June 7, when it disappeared. It appeared to 

 be prospecting for a nest, as it would investigate holes in trees and 

 even started carrying nesting material into a sprinkling can hang- 

 ing on the back porch of a house. On May 31, besides the one in 

 town, two others were heard singing at Rye Beach, about two miles 

 west of Huron on Lake Erie. On June 14, two were found at Rye 

 Beach in the willows and button bushes fringing the marsh. One 

 was singing, but the other used only a scolding note. From their 

 actions I suspected a nest, but was unable to find it. I searched 

 on several occasions after that, but it was not until June 26 that 

 I was successful. By watching the male bird it was found that 

 he had a certain perch where he would sing at about fifteen min- 

 ute intervals and that after singing he would occasionally drop 

 down into the underbrush. Search near there finally flushed the 

 female from the nest, which was situated in an old woodpecker hole 

 in a stub of a button bus;h, about four feet from the ground. The 

 nest was about four inches below the opening, was lined with grass 

 and contained two quite heavily marked eggs. 



The stub was part of a clump of bushes and in the spring was 

 evidently surrounded by water, but at this time the water had 

 dried up so as to leave the ground nearly dry. On June 28, I ex- 

 amined the nest again and found but one egg. Both birds were 

 seen, but not close to the nest. On July 3 the nest was empty and 

 the birds were not seen, but on July 9 I found the male singing 

 about a hundred yards from the old nest. This was the last seen 

 or heard of them. The eggs were probably taken by red squirrels, 

 as there were numbers of these around. 



This record extends the known breeding range of the species in 

 Ohio north to Lake Erie, previous records being chiefly at St. 

 Mary's reservoir and at Licking reservoir. H. G. Morse. 



