Vol i g XVI ] Roberts, The Prothonotary Warbler in Minnesota. 24 1 



The narrow strip of Minnesota territory under consideration 

 in this paper, together with the adjoining lowlands in Wisconsin, 

 have of late years been given a tentative and rather indefinite 

 position on faunal charts as a northward prolongation or tongue 

 of the Carolinian Fauna. The facts here presented may perhaps 

 render more positive such assignment of this low-lying and shel- 

 tered valley and reveal it as being possessed of an even more 

 definite Carolinian character than supposed. The presence of 

 the Prothonotary Warbler in such numbers suggested that other 

 southern birds ought to be found, but in this we were disap- 

 pointed with the two following exceptions. The Louisiana Wnter 

 Thrush (Semrus motaaZla), not found as far north as Minneapolis, 

 was present in small numbers at Red Wing and thence southward 

 throughout the entire valley and in the neighboring wooded 

 lowlands to the westward. This bird is probably generally dis- 

 tributed thoughout the timbered areas of Southern Minnesota, 

 reaching a limit at about 44 45' north latitude. Beyond this 

 Grinnell's Water Thrush (Seiurus noveboracensis notabilis) is alone 

 found. The other exception proved a most unexpected one. 

 We found the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 

 permanently resident in the heavy timber of the bottomland in 

 Houston County. Mr. Harrison had several specimens taken 

 near the mouth of Root River, and assured us that they wintered 

 in the great elm forest there found, he having seen them there 

 in January. At Reno we shot a male Red-bellied, June 24, and 

 saw and heard several others. They undoubtedly occur here 

 regularly, and not so very infrequently, over a small area extend- 

 ing northward not to exceed twenty-five or thirty miles from the 

 Iowa line, 43 30' north latitude. This bird is here reported 

 from Minnesota for the first time and from a station many miles 

 north of the usually assigned northernmost limit of its range in 

 the Mississippi Valley. The 'A. O. U. Check-List' for 1895 

 says " Southern Michigan and Central Iowa." 



A glance at the vegetation of the lower part of this valley may 

 serve to further indicate its Carolinian trend. The black walnut, 

 red mulberry, Kentucky coffee tree, and to a more limited extent, 

 the shell bark hickory find a foothold here, and the woods of 

 Houston County are full of the May apple (Podophyllum pcltatum) . 



