Vol XVI 



J Roberts, The Protkonotary Warbler in Minnesota. -43 



up in dry situations and sometimes in large Cottonwood and 

 maple stumps, the latter being the places chosen when the birds 

 frequented the heavier growing timber. About Reno, six miles 

 from the Iowa line where the birds were particularly abundant, 

 the sombre forest, here very heavy with muddy, oozy bottom and 

 little underbrush, was much frequented by this bird and the 

 forcible ringing chant of the male Prothonotary joined in the 

 deep forest with the incessant bird chorus coming from myriads 

 of American Redstarts, countless Vireos of several kinds, Wood 

 Thrushes, and Catbirds, innumerable Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, 

 an occasional Louisiana Water Thrush, and a varied assemblage 

 of harsh-voiced Woodpeckers, with a perpetual undertone of 

 small Flycatcher notes. 



A singular departure from the natural nesting habits of the 

 Prothonotary Warbler was observed and studied at La Crescent, 

 and the facts are perhaps sufficiently interesting to warrant brief 

 recital here. Goss in his ' Birds of Kansas,' and Harrison in the 

 article in the ' 0<">logist ' above quoted, tell of finding this 

 Warbler abandoning the .woods, and selecting, after the fashion of 

 the Bluebird and the House Wren, building sites about dwellings, 

 bridges, and other structures. La Crosse and La Crescent lie on 

 opposite sides of the Mississippi River, and an iron truss railroad 

 bridge with long tressel work approaches connects them. Over 

 this bridge there passes a never ceasing stream of railroad trains, 

 and through the swinging draw a procession of boats day and 

 night — a busy, noisy place, very unlike the peaceful calm and 

 seclusion that reigns in the depths of the pathless and almost 

 impenetrable expanse of wooded bottom land that stretches away 

 on all sides. And yet here the usually shy and retiring Golden 

 Swamp Warbler has forsaken its accustomed haunts so close at 

 hand, and with unexpected daring and infinite pains has sought 

 out and utilized places for rearing its young on and about this 

 busy thoroughfare. Mr. Harrison, who for nineteen years has 

 been draw-tender and engineer on this bridge, has long watched 

 and encouraged this confiding trait, and has come to speak of 

 these little companions in terms of endearment, and to look 

 eagerly for their springtime return. He has from time to time, 

 nailed up boxes and sections of hollow logs in seemingly most 



