THE PRAIRIE WARBLER. 169 



eastern boundary where we should expect intergrades. I once followed a bird 

 near Columbus whose yellow had the convincing glow of gold below 

 (hypochrysea, gold below) ; and a specimen exists in the Oberlin College 

 Museum which is undoubtedly referable to this subspecies. 



No. 76. 

 PRAIRIE WARBLER. 



A. O. U. No. 673. Dendroica discolor (Vieill.). 



Description. — Adult male: Above olive-green, brightening on crown, with 

 a triangular area of chestnut-rufous spots or confluent streaks on back; below 

 and on sides of head bright yellow, most intense on superciliary, cheek, and throat ; 

 with heavy black streaks or stripes on sides of breast and flanks ; a blackish line 

 through eye and a broad, black malar stripe ; crissum pale, yellowish white ; wings 

 and tail dusky with greenish gray edgings on external webs ; middle coverts yel- 

 lowish white on tips ; greater coverts edged terminally with gray on outer web, 

 the two forming indistinct bars ; two outer pairs of tail-feathers broadly white on 

 inner webs, third pair with central spot; bill blackish; feet dark brown. Adult 

 female : Similar to male but duller, and with chestnut-rufous of back much re- 

 duced or wanting. Immature : Like female but ashy on head (ear-coverts) , ashy 

 olive-green above; paler yellow below, etc. Length 4.25-5.00 (108.-127.) ; av. 

 of four Columbus specimens; wing 2.19 (55.6) ; tail 1.74 (44-2) ; bill .37 (9.4). 



Recognition Marks. — Smallest of the genus ; chestnut-rufous of back distinc- 

 tive; bears some resemblance to D. maculosa below, but smaller and otherwise 

 quite different. 



Nest, in bushes or saplings, deeply cup-shaped, composed of fine grasses, 

 plant-fiber, and down, lined with hair. Bggs, 4 or 5, white or greenish white, 

 marked with reddish brown and olive-brown, chiefly in a wreath about the larger 

 end. Av. size, .65 x .49 (16.5 x 12.5). 



General Range. — Eastern United States to the Plains, breeding from Florida 

 north to Michigan and southern New England. Winters in Southern Florida 

 and the West Indies. 



Range in Ohio. — Rare. Probably breeds, but no authentic record. 



AFTER D. kirtlandi the Prairie Warbler is with us the rarest of the 

 genus. Its normal range lies much farther south, and those which pene- 

 trate our state are to be regarded only as pioneers or as adventurers without 

 fixed habits. Professor Jones has seen single males at Oberlin on two dif- 

 ferent occasions, but there are no records for Ontario; and it seems prob- 

 able that those birds which reach the Lake Erie shore in spring turn south- 

 ward again before settling for the summer. 



On the nth of June, 1903, I came across a singing male on a hill-top 

 near Sugar Grove, at the point shown in the illustration. The bird moved 

 restlessly from place to place, singing indifferently from the depths of black- 



