BULLETIN 



NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Vol. III. OCTOBER, 1878. No. 4. 



THE PROTHONOTARY WARBLER {PROTONOTARIA CITREA). 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



It is not so much my present purpose to go over what has been 

 already written concerning this beautiful and striking Warbler, as 

 to present the result of some original observations, made under very 

 favorable circumstances, in Wabash County, Illinois, and Gibson and 

 Knox Counties, Indiana. Nevertheless, a brief preliminary reference 

 to its past biography may not be out of place here. 



The species was first described by Boddaert in 1783. Very little 

 concerning its life history has been put on record by our earlier 

 ornithological writers. Audubon's account is decidedly the best, 

 though it is somewhat brief, and in some respects probably erroneous. 

 Recently more light has been thrown upon the subject, especially 

 in regai'd to its geographical range and nesting. Judging from the 

 evidence recorded, its distribution is somewhat irregular and ei'ratic, 

 though future investigation may probably be relied upon to fill 

 many apparent gaps. Along the Atlantic coast it occurs more or 

 less regularly — but nowhere, so far as known, numerously — as far 

 north as Charleston, S. C, and as a straggler to Washington, D. C. 

 (Coues and Prentiss); Pennsylvania (Turnbull); and even, as a 

 piirely accidental wanderer, to Calais, Me. (Boardman). Westward it 

 is found more abundantly throughout the Gulf States, and extends 

 its migrations north to Kansas, Missouri, and Southern Illinois and 

 Indiana. Indeed, it is probable that its maximum abundance during 

 the breeding season is reached in the States lying about the junction 

 of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 



The middle of April, 1878, found me at Mount Carmel, 111., in 



VOL. III. 11 



