DENDRCECA DISCOLOR : PRAIRIE WARBLER. I47 



ground; it contained one egg. At Calais, Me., ac- 

 cording to the excellent authority of Mr. Boardman, 

 the bird is a common summer resident, and breeds. 

 The eggs have been described as measuring 0.70 by 

 0.65 of an inch ; with a bluish-white ground, with 

 purplish and brownish blotches of several shades, 

 chiefly wreathed about the larger end. 



PRAIRIE WARBLER. 

 Dendrceca discolor (V.) Bd. 



Chars. Above, yellow-olive, the back with a patch of brick-red 

 spots; forehead, line over eye, two wing-bars, and entire under 

 parts rich yellow ; side of head with a V-shaped black mark, con- 

 necting with a chain of black streaks along the whole side of the 

 neck and body ; very large white tail-blotches occupying most of 

 the inner web of the outer feathers. Sexes almost exactly alike. 

 Young : Similar, the markings of the back and head less decided, 

 or wanting. Small : length, 4.75-5.00 ; extent, 7.00 ; wing, 2.25 ; 

 tail, 2.00. 



Differing decidedly from most of the Wood Warblers 

 in distribution, especially in the breeding season, this 

 very neat and diminutive species is limited northward 

 in summer by the Alleghanian Fauna, and is hence 

 seldom if ever found beyond Massachusetts. Mr. 

 Minot has indeed recorded a nest, found in northern 

 New Hampshire, as that of the Prairie Warbler (Am. 

 Nat., ix, 1875, P- 520) ; but as he makes no allusion 

 to it in his later work, the presumption is that there 

 was some mistake. The bird enters New England 

 early in May, and departs about the middle of Septem- 

 ber. It frequents low, scrubby woods, old fields and 



