2^8 Roberts, The Prothonotary Warbler in Minnesota. [ r\ll v 



of' Minnesota. The account is based on ten years' observations, 

 and after giving a concise description of the nesting habits, nests 

 and eggs, dates of arrival, etc., concludes with the statement: 

 '-' It certainly should be classed as fairly common in suitable 

 localities along the Mississippi River in southern Minnesota." 

 This completes the literature of the subject. 



The appearance of Mr. Johnson's article, offering as it did the 

 attractive prospect of an invasion of the breeding haunts of so 

 interesting and beautiful a bird as the Prothonotary Warbler, and 

 in a locality so far from its ascribed range, determined the writer 

 upon spending a week's vacation in exploring the Mississippi 

 bottom-land in southeastern Minnesota instead of penetrating into 

 the wilds of the Lake of the Woods region as had been planned. 

 Leaving Minneapolis, June 20, 1898, accompanied by Mr. L. O. 

 Dart of Litchfield, Minnesota, an earnest and competent student 

 of birds, we began our investigations the following day at Red 

 Wing, a point on the Mississippi River forty miles south of St. 

 Paul. We were here very materially assisted by Mr. C. B. John- 

 son who kindly spent part of the first day with us and piloted us 

 into the difficultly accessible haunts of the bird of which we were 

 in search. So surprising were the results of the three days spent 

 here that we decided to continue the trip down the river to the 

 Iowa line in order to obtain a more comprehensive view of the 

 distribution and numbers of the Warbler in question. The rail- 

 road follows closely the river bank all the way so that we were 

 able to easily make satisfactory observations at many points. At 

 La Crescent a day was spent and our observations were sup- 

 plemented by comparisons with those of Mr. Harrison and Mr. 

 Frank Harris, both of whom have interesting local collections of 

 birds and eggs and have devoted no little attention to observing 

 the birds of the immediate vicinity. Reno, six miles north of the 

 Iowa line, was the most southerly point visited and found to be 

 the most interesting place for field work. From this point the 

 rugged and heavily wooded valleys of Crooked and Winnebago 

 Creeks were explored for a distance of twelve to fifteen miles 

 back from the Mississippi River, quite out onto the high rolling 

 prairie region westward. The very heavily wooded Root River 

 bottom was not visited, as Dr. Hvoslef of Lanesboro has given it 



