By Stream and Pond. 319 



where the Spanish moss grows in their breeding range it is utiHzed by the 

 birds both as a part of the structure and sometimes as a location in which to 

 place the nest itself. This is generally high up from the ground. Four or five 

 white eggs, marked mainly at the larger end with reddish and olive shades 

 of brown, are laid. They are about seven tenths of an inch long and a 

 little more than half an inch wide. The birds find their insect food in the 

 higher trees and frequent by preference those in the vicinity of water. 

 They remind one somewhat in their motions of Titmice and again of 

 Creepers, and are among the more musical of their allies. 



The Sycamore Warbler is rather a smaller bird, with a relatively shorter 



bill, than the Yellow-throated Warbler, and is otherwise much like that bird 



except that the region in fi'ont of the eye is white instead 



Sycamore Warbler, of ydlozu. These birds are closely allied. The one under 



Dendroica dominica albilora • -i • • t> 'i i • 1 i ^^ 



Ridgw. consideration is distributed in the breeding season 



throughout the Mississippi Valley as far north as South- 

 ern Indiana and Illinois. It is found east, as far as the western edge of the 

 Carolinas, and passes south in winter mainly through Texas to Mexico and 

 Central America. It also winters more sparingly from Southern Florida 

 and the Island of Jamaica southward. Like its congener it prefers high 

 trees in the vicinity of water and is a notable musician among the Warblers. 

 The breeding and nesting economy are similar in the two birds. 



The Prothonotary Warbler is a bird of water-ways and streams and is 

 Southern in its distribution. It breeds from the Gulf States north to 

 Virginia, on the coast, and in the interior to Southern 

 Prothonotary Illinois. It winters in tropical America. 



^ ^''' A rather robust bird about five inches and a half 



Protonotaria citrea (Bodd.). . i 



long, the Prothonotary is conspicuous even among the 

 Warblers for its beauty of plumage and elegance of carriage. The entire 

 head and under parts are brilliant orange of a peculiar rich shade, becoming 

 lighter on the belly and feathers below the tail. The back is olive gray with 

 a yellowish tone changing to clear bluish gray on the rump. The wings and 

 tail are nearly the color of the rump. The tail has much white on the inner 

 webs of all but the middle feathers. The female is much like the male but paler 

 and duller and whiter on the belly. Immature birds resemble the adult female. 



