60 DENDROSCA DOMINICA. 



weeds and strips of bark ; internally, of a soft coating of yellow down from some wild plant, and lined with 

 extremely fine, dry grass. Horse hairs are, I think, never used." 



Eygs, from three to five in number; the usual number is four, but Mr. Brewster has frequently found five. 

 They are white in color, spotted and blotched irregularly with reddish-brown anil lilac. Those which I have before 

 me are oval in form and quite large for the size of the bird. Dimensions, -GOx-50 to -C5x-55. 



HABITS. 



The Prairie Warblers were very abundant in the dense thickets on the island of Key West 

 during the autumn and early winter of 1870. They frequented the drier portions of the Key 

 but did not sing. A little later, in February, I found them common in the mangrove swamps 

 along the coast of the mainland. The mangroves always grow in submerged districts and 

 frequently occupy a vast area of country, yet in these gloomy retreats, the chosen resorts of 

 Cormorants, Herons, and other aquatic birds, these little Warblers were numerous, being often 

 found miles from any dry land. I have heard the males singing their peculiar songs in such 

 places in May, and they were evidently breeding there. 



Although these birds are found in localities of this description in Southern Florida, those 

 which migrate northward pass over the drier portions of the state, and I found them associating 

 with other Warblers in the thickly wooded hummocks on Indian River. In Massachusetts, 

 however, they prefer an entirely different kind of country, for they are always found in dry 

 fields which have partly grown up to bushes. Here they build their nests, in June, commonly 

 placing them in a bush but a few feet from the ground. The song of the Prairie Warbler is 

 singular, and quite unlike that of any other member of the family, for the birds trill a species 

 of musical scale, commencing low down and ascending rapidly. The notes are indescribable, 

 but if once heard will not easily be forgotten. This lay has a pleasing effect when heard on 

 sunny days in early summer and always forcibly reminds me of the pleasant open valleys amid 

 the green hills of New England, so that when I heard these birds carolling in the gloomy 

 swamps of Southern Florida I could scarcely persuade myself that they were the same species, 

 for it seemed impossible that Prairie Warblers could live in such' places. Those birds which 

 go north migrate in April, arriving in Massachusetts about the middle of May, and depart early 

 in September. , 



DENDRCECA DOMINICA. 

 Yellow-throated Warbler. 



Dendrceca dominica BAIKD, Review of American Birds, 1865, 205. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. CH. Form, quite stout. Size, rather large. Bill, long, rather slender, with the upper mandible slightly 

 curved. Wings, somewhat long and pointed. Tail, very slightly rounded. Feet, small. Sternum, rather stoutly 

 built. Keel, low, not exceeding in height one-half the width of the sternum. Tongue, long, thin, horny and 

 acuminate, with the end cleft and divided into rather coarse cilia which extend along the sides for one-third of the 

 terminal length, but they are shorter on these parts than on the tip. 



COI-OK. Adult. Above, uniform slaty-blue with the top of the head black on the front part. The feathers 

 of the back part of the crown are also black but this color is more or less obscured with slaty. Dark spots 

 occasionally appear on the back. Wings, dark brown, with the outer webs edged with slaty, and the inner with 

 white; both rows of wing coverts are tipped with white, forming bars. Tail, dark brown, edged on the outer webs 

 with slaty, all the feathers excepting the two middle are spotted terminally on the inner webs with white ; these 

 spots are very small on the inner feathers but become gradually larger towards the outer, and occupy nearly one-half 

 of the length of first feathers. Line from the eye to the base of the bill, chin, throat, and upper part of the breast, 

 bright yellow ; remainder of under parts, including under wing and tail coverts, superciliary stripe, spot on the 

 under eyelid, patch on the side of neck, white. Lores, sides of head, streaks on the sides and flanks, black. There 

 is an indication of a white median stripe starting at the base of the bill. 



Young, similar, but glossed with greenish above. The yellow of the throat is not as bright and the black and 

 white markings are not as extended or as conspicuous. Sexes alike Irides, feet and bill, brown, with the base of 

 the under mandible lighter in youug birds. 



