Days with the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and the 

 Prothonotary Warbler 



GEORGE H. STUART, 3rD 



To ornithologists who have been frequently in the southern 

 Atlantic states these two species — the one sprightly and the 

 other so wonderfully gorgeous — are doubtless very familiar, but 

 as our experience in those regions had been limited to the late 

 autumn, it was with keen expectancy that we headed for one of 

 their most northern habitats on the Atlantic seaboard. 



Although in each case the breeding-ground of these birds 

 extends up the Mississippi Valley almost to the river's source 

 and into a portion of southern Ontario, the southern tip of 

 New Jersey and Delaware mark their northern limit east of the 

 Alleghanies. 



In the Spring of 1915 Dr. Spencer Trotter and the writer 

 determined, if possible, to locate not only the birds, but their 

 nesting-sites as well. Accordingly in early May we entrained 

 for one of the localities where both varieties had been reported. 

 The country at our destination was flat farm-land for the most 

 part, with scattered woods of pine on the dryer surfaces. The 

 streams which drain this level country naturally broaden into 

 wide swamp areas, which are covered with a heavy forest of 

 deciduous trees and undergrowth — greenbriar, holly and poison- 

 ivy — deterring even the most enthusiastic from penetrating 

 many parts of the tangled bogs. But it is here, and particularly 

 about the edges of the small ponds, out of which the silvered 

 skeletons of old trees protrude, and in the little vistas, that one 

 must look for these species. 



Taking advantage of the long twilight upon our arrival, we 

 hurried into the nearest woods with the hope of having a 

 glimpse of one of these birds. Entering a thick tangle of green- 



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