276 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Dendroica discolor, Baird. 



PRAIRIE WARBLER. 



Sylvia discolor, Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 37, pi. xcviii. — Bon. ; Aud. Orn. Biog. 

 I, pi. xiv ; NuTT. — Lembeye, Aves Cuba, 1850, 32, pi. vi, fig. 2. Syloicola discolor, 

 Jard. ; KiCH. ; Bon. ; Aud. Birds Am. II, pi. xcvii. — Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 159. 

 Rhimanjihus discolor, Cab. Jour. Ill, 1855, 474 (Cuba ; winter). Dendroica discolor, 

 Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 290 ; Rev. 213. —Newton, Ibis, 1859, 144 (St. Croix).— 

 Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. VII, 1859 (Bahamas). — 1b. 1866 (Porto Rico) ; 1867, 91 

 (Hayti). — Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba; verj' common). — Samuels, 241. 

 Sylvia minuta, Wilson, III, pi. xxv. fig. 4. 



Sp. Char. Spring male. Above uniform olive-green ; the interscapular region with 

 chestnut-red centres to feathers. Under parts and sides of the head, including a broad 

 superciliary line from the nostrils to a little behind the eye, bright yellovi^, brightest an- 

 teriorly. A well-defined narrow stripe from the commissure of the mouth through the 

 eye, and another from the same point curving gently below it, also a series of streaks on 

 each side of the body, extending from the throat to the flanks, black. Quills and tail- 

 feathecs brown, edged with white; the terminal half of the inner web of the first and 

 second tail-feathers white. Two yellowish bands on the wings. Female similar, but 

 duller. The dorsal streaks indistinct. Length, 4.86 ; wing, 2.2.5 ; tail, 2.10. 



First plumage of the young not seen. 



Hab. Atlantic region of United States, north to Massachusetts ; South Illinois ; in 

 winter very abundant throughout all the West India Islands, as far, at least, as the Virgin 

 Islands. Not recorded from Mexico or Central America. 



Autumnal specimens have the plumage more blended, but the markings 

 not changed. A young male in autumnal dress is wholly brownish olive- 

 green above, the whole wing uniform ; the forehead ashy, the markings about 

 the head rather obsolete, the chestnut spots on the back and the black ones 

 on the sides nearly concealed. 



Habits. The Prairie Warbler, nowhere an abundant species, is pretty 

 generall}^, though somewhat irregularly, distributed through the eastern por- 

 tion of the United States from Massachusetts to Georgia during its breeding- 

 season. The Smithsonian Museum embraces no specimens taken west of 

 Philadelphia or Washington. I have had its nest and eggs found in 

 Central New York. Mr. Audubon speaks of its occurring in Louisiana, but 

 his accounts of its nesting are so obviously inaccurate that we must receive 

 this statement also with misgivings. Wilson, however, obtained specimens 

 in Kentucky, and gave to it the inappropriate name of Prairie Warbler. 

 Nuttall regarded it as rare in New England, which opinion more careful 

 observations do not confirm. They certainly are not rare in certain portions 

 of Massachusetts. In Essex County, and, according to Mr. Allen, in the 

 vicinity of Springfield, they are rather common. The Smithsonian possesses 

 specimens from the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and other West 

 India islands. Dr. Gundlach speaks of it as connnon in Cuba. In the 

 Bahamas, Dr. Bryant found these Warblers more abundant than he had ever 

 known them in tlie United States. In January all the males were in winter 



