PROTHONOTARY WARBLER. 173 
whole tracts of country where these birds breed may be sometimes left high and dry by 
the receding element before the eggs are hatched. 
“Everywhere now, from the willow thickets along the streams and the button- 
bushes on the pond edges came the songs of numerous males, and, occasionally, one 
would appear among the foliage or glance across the open water like a ray of golden 
light. Little idea can be had from preserved specimens of the wonderful beauty and 
brilliancy of this bird’s plumage when alive. Although at times somewhat hard to 
discover among the yellowish-green of their favorite willows, at others, when clinging 
against the side of an old log or tree-trunk, the yellow head and breast, turned out- 
ward to the light, seemed fairly to glow with color, in contrast with the green moss 
or dusky wood. On cloudy, lowering days I have been surprised at the effect produced 
by a male flying across an open space close to the dark water. It was as if a sunbeam 
had glanced ‘athwart the spot, lighting up everything for a moment, and leaving 
greater gloom from the contrast after it had disappeared..... 
“Mating began almost immediately after the arrival of the females, and the ‘old, 
old story’ was told in many a willow thicket by little golden-breasted lovers. The 
scene enacted upon such occasions was not strikingly different from that usual among 
the smaller birds: retiring and somewhat indifferent coyness on the part of the female; 
violent protestations and demonstrations. from the male, who swelled his plumage, 
spread his wings and tail, and fairly danced round the object of his affections. Some- 
times at this juncture another male appeared, and then a fierce confliét was sure to 
ensue. The combatants would struggle together most furiously until the weaker was 
forced to give way and take to flight. On several occasions I have seen two males, 
after fighting among the branches for a long time, clinch and come fluttering together 
to the water beneath, where for several minutes the contest continued upon the surface 
until both were fairly drenched. The males rarely meet in the mating season without 
fighting, even though no female may be near. Sometimes one of them turns tail at the 
outset; and the other at once giving chase, the pursuer and pursued, separated by a 
few inches only, go darting through the woods, winding, doubling, now careering away 
up among the tree-tops, now down over the water, sweeping close to the surface until 
the eye becomes weary with following the mad flight. During all this time the female 
usually busies herself with feeding, apparently entirely unconcerned as to the issue. 
Upon the return of the conquerer her indifference, real or assumed, vanishes, he receives 
a warm welcome, and matters are soon arranged between them. 
“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 is offered by the actual presence of both birds 
at the same time, we found that at a distance of several hundred yards their notes 
were absolutely undistinguishable; nearer at hand, however, the resemblance is lost, 
and in ringing, penetrating quality becomes apparent in the Warbler’s song. It now 
sounds like peet, tsweet, tsweet, tsweet, or sometimes tweet, tr-sweet, tr-sweet, tr-sweet. 
When the birds sing within a few yards the sound is almost startling in its intensity, 
