240 BIRDS — SYLVICOLIDiE. 



Protonotaeia cite^a (Bodd.) Bd. 



JProth-onotary Warbler. 



Frotonotaria cltrea, VVheaton, Ohio Agri. Rep. for 1860, ;163, 373 ; Reprint, 1861, 5, 15. — 



Langdon, Uac. Birds of Ciu., 1877, 5. 

 Protonotaria citrcea, CoUES, Key, 1872, 93 — Whkaton, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agri. Rep. 



for 1B74 (187.^), 5i;3 ; Reprint, 3,— Langdon, Journ Gin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1878, 112 ; 



Repiiut, 3; ReF. List, Journ. Cin. Sno. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 188; Reprint, 22. 



Molaoilla dtrea, Boddjsrt, Tab. PI. El., 1783, 44. 

 Protonotaria cUrea, Baird, Birds N. A., 18.58, 239. 

 Protonotaria dtrwa, Coues, Key, 1872, 93. 



Golden yellow, paler on the belly, changing to olivaceous on the back, thence to bluish 

 ashy on the rump, wings, and tail ; most of Ibe tail feathers largely white on the inner 

 webs. Bill black. Leugth 5J; wing2J-3; tail 2^. 



Habitat, .South Atlantic and Gulf States ; north to Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. 

 Accidental lu Maine and New Brunswick. 



The Prothonotary Warbler ib, only known in this State as a summer 

 resident in Western Ohio, especially in the vicinity of St. Marys' Reser- 

 voir. It was first noted as an Ohio bird in 1861, by myself on the auth- 

 ority of Mr. Winslow, but by whom taken, and when, I have no informa- 

 tion. Since then Mr. Charles Dury has discovered that it breeds in the 

 above mentioned locality, having found its nest in a deserted Wood- 

 peckers' hole in a willow tree. 



From Mr. Brewster's admirable account of this bird, the best yet writ- 

 ten (Ball. Nutt. Orn. Club, iii, 1878, 153), I gather that it is one of the 

 most abundant and characteristic birds of the low portions of South- 

 eastern Illinois and Southwestern Indiana. He describes its song as re- 

 sembling the note ot the Solitary Sandpiper, and its alarm note that of 

 the Water Thrush. The nest is built in the deserted hole of a Wood- 

 pecker or Carolina Chickadee or in any suitable cavity in a tree or 

 building. It is built largely of moss, but leaves and twigs are sometimes 

 added. The eggs are five or six, sometimes seven. They measure about 

 .70 by .58. " The ground color is clear, lurtrous white, with a high polish. 

 Eggs from different sets vary considerably in markings, but two types of 

 coloration seem to prevail. In one, spots and dottings of dull brown 

 with faint submarkings of pale lavender are generally and evenly distri- 

 buted over the entire surface. In the other, blotches of bright reddish 

 brown are so thickly laid on, especially about the larger ends, that the 

 ground color is in some instances almost entirely obscured. 



Genus HKLMITHERUS Rafiuesque. 



Bill large and stout, compressed, almost tanagrine, nearly as long as the head, un- 

 notched, unbristled and on a line with the forehead. Wings rather long, considerably 

 longer than the rounded tail. 



