Vo ]g^ v n Roberts, The Prothonotary Warbler in Minnesota. 245 



and noise of this exposed place. But they seemed not at all dis- 

 turbed, and flitted about among the iron work of the bridge, sing- 

 ing the vigorous little song that rings so forcibly through the 

 deep woods, but which was here almost lost amid the din of 

 machinery and the whistling of the wind. Here only did I hear 

 the other true nuptial song of this Warbler described by Brew- 

 ster and mentioned by Goss. Standing by the engine house on 

 the top of the bridge I saw the male rise from the topmost girder, 

 and, while hovering high over the river with outspread tail and 

 fluttering wings and head thrown back, after the manner of the 

 Maryland Yellowthroat, deliver first the usual rapid monotone of 

 five or six notes and then a pleasing varied warble, full and strong 

 in some of its notes and far sweeter than the usual utterance. 



This day of bird study in strange places was ended by Mr. 

 Harrison exhibiting to us from his collection on a goodly sized 

 cigar box containing a Prothonotary Warbler's nest and set of six 

 eggs. The box had been nailed the year before to a small build- 

 ing on a pier in mid-river, and in this isolated and far-away posi- 

 tion had been compactly filled to more than half its capacity 

 with moss and grass, carried from the river banks by a vigorous 

 pair of these little birds. And still further evidences of the 

 erratic domestic fancies of the species were pointed out. One 

 pair had alternated seasons with a family of Bluebirds in a little 

 wooden box affixed to a low post close by a switch house, and on 

 the edge of a platform where baggage and passengers were daily 

 transferred. Another couple had established themselves in a 

 cleft in one of the piles of the retaining fence at the end of the 

 bridge ; still another in a tin cup in a small barn near the bridge, 

 entering the building through a broken pane of glass ; and lastly 

 a pair began a nest in a pasteboard box on a shelf in a little sum- 

 mer house by the river bank, but were disturbed before com- 

 pleting it. Surely a surprising record and showing this charming 

 bird possessed of a nature capable of a degree of domestication 

 equal to that of the Martin, Phcebe, Bluebird and House Wren. 



In concluding this paper it may be fairly said, I think, that it 

 has been clearly shown that the subject of this sketch not only 

 penetrates in goodly numbers well up into Minnesota territory, 

 but that it has been long and well established there ; is at home 



