PROTHONOTARY WARBLER 



57 



was this preference, that the song of the male heard from the woods 

 indicated to us as surely the proximity of some river, pond, or flooded 

 swamp, as did the croaking of frogs or peeping of hylas. 



"In general activity and restlessness few birds equal the species 

 under consideration. Not a nook or corner of his domain but is 

 repeatedly visited through the day. Now he sings a few times from 

 the top of some tall willow that leans out over the stream, sitting 

 motionless among the yellowish foliage, fully aware, perhaps, of 

 the protection afforded by its harmonizing tints. The next moment 

 he descends to the cool shades beneath, where dark, coffee-colored 

 water, the over-flow of pond or river, stretches back among the 

 trees. * * * 



"This Warbler usually seeks its food low down among thickets, 

 moss-grown logs, or floating debris, and always about the water. 

 Sometimes it ascends tree-trunks for a little way like the Black and 

 White Creeper [=Warbler], winding about with the same peculiar 

 motion. When seen among the upper branches, where it often goes 

 to preen its feathers and sing in the warm sunshine, it almost invari- 

 ably sits nearly motionless. Its flight is much like that of the Water- 

 Thrush (either species) and is remarkably swift, firm, and decided. 

 When crossing a broad stream it is slightly undulating, though always 

 direct." 



Of the Prothonotary farther south in the Mississippi Valley, 

 Allison (MS.} writes: 



"The typical haunt is low, flat, woodland, preferably with some 

 standing water; this is usually a river bottom, though a 'bay-gall/ 

 or low swamp among pine-lands, wooded with white bay, black-gum, 

 etc., often answers the purpose. In Louisiana, a piece of ground 

 recently deposited by the Mississippi River, and covered with a thick 

 growth of willows, is attractive to this Warbler. It joins less than 

 many other species with the roving bands of migrant Warblers in 

 the upland woods." 



Song. "The usual song of the Prothonotary Warbler sounds 

 at a distance like the call of the Solitary Sandpiper with a syllable 

 or two added, a simple peet, tweet, tweet, tweet, given on the same 

 key throughout. Often when the notes came from the farther shore 

 of a river or pond we were completely deceived. On more than one 

 occasion, when a good opportunity for comparison was offered by 

 the actual presence of both birds at the same time, we found that 

 at the distance of several hundred yards their notes were absolutely 

 indistinguishable ; nearer at hand, however, the resemblance is lost, 



