602 



PRAIRIE WARBLER. 



HABITS. 



I never experienced mure pleasure in finding a bird's nest that was new to me tiian 

 when I discovered the nest domicile of this fine warbler. I was s-arching, in early June, 

 amon'>' some low firs, which grew on a hillside in northern Maine, tor the ne.^ts of the 

 Olive-backed Thrush, when I started a female Black and Yellow Warbler from a little 

 ti-ee in which she had her home. The pretty little structure was placed in the folk of a 

 Innb about five feet from the ground, and contained four fresh eggs. The biid was ex- 

 tremely shy, keeping at a distance, but did not appear very solicitous, only occasionly 

 uttering a low chirp, and the male did not make his appearance. I afterwards found sev- 

 eral nests, one or two of which were })laced near a^ travelled ro.ad within a few feet of 

 pas>iing vehicles. They were alwa ys built in lo\v evergreen trees, but a few feet from the 

 liround and in such a- position as to be concealed. The females wei'e all shy, generally 

 darting from the nest and instiuitly biding in the nearest thicket. I never remember of 

 havinc seen the males in the innnediate vicinitv of the nest, but constantlv heard their 

 peculiarly slioit songs in the forests, and frei|ueiitly saw them among the trees or fiying 

 through the woods in pursuit of their mates. 



Tl ese wai biers axe not common in Massachusetts during the migrations, but are 

 oftener met with in spring than in autunni. They appear with other Sylvicolidae in May 

 and frequent the tops of trees which grow in swampy places. The few which pass in the 

 fall are found in similar situations. I have never seen this s[)ecies in Florida, but Mi'. 

 Boardman savs that he has taken a single 8})ecimen at Green Cove Spring, in February. I 

 therefoi'e introduce it into the fauna of the state upon his authority; Dr. Bryant also re- 

 cords it from the Bahamas, but I have never seen it there. 



DEMDR030A DiSCOLOR. 

 Prairie WarSiler 



Dumlniuca discolur Rairil, Birds of Nortli Anicrica. IS.jS, 2li(l. 

 riute XXVII. Adult Male in Sj ring 



DESCRIPTION. 



kSr. (Jil. l<Vinu, .slendur. Size, nut large. Tail, slijlitly rounded. Bill, sleiuk'r and ratlier aeuiiiinate. 

 kStcrnuin, of tlie same Ibrm as that of the preceding : in fact, the sterna of D. maculosa, aestiva, and discolor 

 are so nearly alike in size and form, that if the labels were removed it would be impossible to decide to which 

 species any particular sternum belonged. Tongue, thin, horny, rather short, not very acuminate, quite 

 deeply cleft, ciliated at the end and along the sides f )r one-third the terminal length. 



Color. Adult male in sjiring. Aliovo, greenish yellow, with the middle of the back abruptly mai-ked. 

 with more or less contluent blotches of chestnut. Wings, brown, edged on the outer webs with greenish. 

 The upjier wing coverts .are tijjped with yellowish white. Tail, also brown, edged on the outer webs with 

 greenish, and uitli long spots of whito on the inner weliS of the six outer feathers. This color extends over 

 two-thirds of the terminal length of the two outer feathers, but the inner are barely marked with it. Beneath, 

 including sides of head, superciliary line, under wing coverts, under tail covei'ts, and edge of wing, bright 

 yellow : with a line through the eye, beginning at the base of the bill, a maxillary line or spot, spots on the 

 sides 111' the neck, streaks mi the sides and flanks, black. 



