484 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
ground in woods. Eggs 3-5, .67 x .57, creamy white, thickly speckled, chiefly on 
larger end, with reddish brown. Hab. Eastern North America (north to Fort 
Simpeon, Hudson’ s Bay, etc.) in summer; Gulf States, West Indies, Middle Amer- 
ica, and northern South America (Colombia, Venezuela) in winter; accidental in 
California (Farallon Islands)... 636. M. varia (Linn.). Black and White Warbler.’ 
Genus PROTONOTARIA Bairrp. (Page 481, pl. CXV., fig. 8.) 
Species. 
Head and lower parts, except lower tail-coverts, yellow; lower tail-coverts, 
lining of wing, and inner webs of tail-feathers, white; back, scapulars, rump, and 
sometimes top of head, olive-green; wings plain bluish gray or plumbeous. Adult 
male: Head, neck, and lower parts (except tail-coverts) intense cadmium-yellow, 
sometimes tinted with orange, the top of the head sometimes olive-greenish. Adult 
female: Similar to the duller-colored males, but yellow appreciably less pure, the 
top of the head always olive-greenish, and gray of wings and tail less bluish; size 
somewhat less. WVestling: Head, neck, chest, fore-part of sides, and back olive, 
lighter on lower parts; no yellow beneath, except after moult has commenced ; 
otherwise much like adult female. Length about 5.00-5.50, wing 2.90-3.00, tail 
2.25. Nest of mosses, built in deserted woodpeckers’ holes or other cavities in 
trees or stumps standing in or near water. Eggs 3-7, .68 x .55, glossy white, 
creamy white, or creamy buff, thickly spotted with rich madder-brown and pur- 
plish gray. Hab. Willow swamps and borders of ponds and streams, in bottom- 
lands of the Mississippi Valley and Gulf States, north regularly to Iowa, Illinois, 
Indiana, etc., but rare or casual on the Atlantic coast north of Georgia; in winter, 
Cuba, Central America, and northern South America (Colombia and Venezuela). 
637. P. citrea (Bopp.). Prothonotary Warbler. 
Genus HELINAIA Aupvupon. (Page 481, pl. CXVI, fig. 1.) 
Species. 
Adult; Above plain olive-brownish, more reddish brown on top of head and 
nape, sometimes on wings and tail also; lower parts whitish, more or less tinged 
with yellowish, the sides more olivaceous; a dusky loral streak, continued behind 
the eye, bordered above by a distinct superciliary stripe of brownish white; fore- 
1 Two geographical races have been recognized, their principal characters consisting chiefly of differences 
in proportions, as follows : 
Atlantic coast and West Indian specimens.—Mule : Wing 2.72-2.88 (2.78), tail 1.92-2.20 (2.07), culmen 
.45-.50 (.48), bill from nostril .32-.40 (.37), tarsus .60-.68 (.65), middle toe .50-.58 (.54). Female: 2.70, 2.00- 
2.05 (2.02), .45-.48 (.46), .86-.38 (.37), .68-.70 (.69), .50. (True M. varia.) 
Mississippi Valley and Middle American spocimens.—Male: Wing 2.70-2.90 (2.80), tail 2.00-2.24 
(2.09), culmen .40-.48 (.44), bill from nostril .30-.38 (.32), tarsus .62-.65 (.63), middle toe .49-.58 (.52). Female: 
2.60-2.75 (2.65), 1.92-2.00 (1.96), .40-.45 (.42), .32, .66, .50-.56 (- 53). (M. varia borealis Nurt.? Mniotilta 
borealis Nurt., Man. 1. b. 2d ed. 1840, 705.) 
Further examination of extensive material is necessary to decide the question of whether the distinction can 
be maintained. 
