PRAIRIE WARBLER. 603 



Adult male, in autumn, has the chestnut of the back .obscured with greenish ; the black of the under 

 portions is also washed with yellow. Adult female, similar to the young male, but the young female is 

 •without a trace of chestnut above, where the greenish is washed with whitish. The lower portions are paler 

 and exhibit but a few faint lines of black. Young, similar to the adult but paler and often without spot- 

 tings, especially on the back. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



This is a well marked species in the adult plumage and will not be confounded with any other. The 

 young females closely resemble those of D. maculosa but may be readily distinguished from them by the 

 white bar on the tail of the latter as described under that head. In this young stage of plumage, D. discolor 

 may be known from all other ^^■arblers by the faint streaks of black on the sides. Specimens found breed- 

 ing in Florida do not dift'er essentially from those taken in New England, except they are, perhaps, a little 

 smaller. Nor do Bahama specimens appear to differ from those taken on Key West. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of twenty-eight specimens from New England and Florida. Length, 5.75 ; 

 stretch, 7.03 : wing, 2.25; tail, 1.S5; bill, .45; tarsus, .70. Longest specimen, 5.20; greatest extent of 

 wings, 7.35 : longest wing, 2.-l:() ; tail, 2.10; bill, .55 ; tarsus, .74. Shortest specimen, 4.50 ; smallest extent 

 ■of wings, (j.30 ; shortest wing, 2.00 ; tail, 1.70 ; bill, .40 ; tarsus, .GO. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests. The following description was kindly given me by Mr. Brewster : "The nests, of which I have 

 ■fjund numbers, agree so nearly in detail that a description of one will suiEce for all. They are usually 

 7)laced in a barberry bush, but sometimes in a hazel, and are fastened into the fork of some upright twig or 

 almost hung, as it were, between three or four disconnected shoots. The nest is a closely woven structure, 

 formed externally, of coarse weeds and strips of bark ; internally, of a soft coating of yellow down from some 

 wild plant, and lined with extremely fine, dry grass. Horse hairs are, I think, never used." Eggs, from 

 three to five in number ; the usual number is four, but Mr. Brewster has frequently found five. They are 

 white in color, spotted and blotched irregularly with reddish brown and lilac. Those which I have before 

 me are oval in form and quite large fur the size of the bird. Dimensions, .GO by .50 to .G5 by .55. 



HABITS. 



The Prairie Warblers were very aijundant iu the dense thickets on the Lsland oI'Key 

 West during the autumn and early winter of 1870. They fre(|nented the drier portions 

 of the Key but did not sing. A little latei-, in February, I found them common in the 

 mangroves along the coast of the mainland. The mangroves always grow in submerged 

 districts and fre(iuently occupy a vast area of country, yet in these gloomy retreats, the 

 chosen resorts of Cormorants, Herons, and other aquatic birds, these little warblers were 

 numerous, being often found miles from any dry land. I have heard the males singing 

 their peculiar songs in such places in May, and they were evidently breeding there. 



Although these birds are found in localities of this description in Southern Florida, 

 those which migrate northward pass over the drier portions of tlie state, and I ft)und them 

 dissociating with other warblers in the thickly wooded hannnocks on Indian River. In 

 Massachusetts, however, they prefer an entirely different kind of country, for they are 

 udways found in dry fields whicli have partly grown up to Inishes. Here they build their 

 .nests, in June, commonly ))lacing them in a tmsh but a few feet from the ground. The 



