640 Field Museum of Natural History — ^Zoology, Vol. IX. 



Genus PROTONOTARIA Baird. 



301. Protonotaria citrea (BoDD.). 



Prothonotary Warbler. 



Distr.: Eastern United States, from Kansas and Nebraska to 

 the Atlantic coast, north to southern Michigan and southern Wis- 

 consin; breeding throughout its United States range, except in south- 

 ern Florida; south in winter to Yucatan, Central America, and north- 

 ern South America. 



Adult male: Crown, olive yellow, shading to yellow on forehead; 

 back, yellowish olive, shading to slaty gray on the rump; under 



parts, clear orange yellow ; primaries, 

 fuscous brown, the outer webs nar- 

 rowly edged with slaty gray, inner 

 webs, edged with white; greater por- 

 tion of inner webs of tail feathers (ex- 

 cept the middle ones) white, tipped 

 with blackish; outer webs, dark; un- 

 der tail coverts, mostly white. 



Adult female: Similar, but the 

 yellow markings paler. 

 Length, 5.40; wing, 2.80; tail, 1.90; bill, .50. 

 A common summer resident in Illinois south of the Kankakee 

 River and of irregular occurrence as far north as southern Wisconsin. 

 Mr. Isaac E. Hess informs me he has found this species nesting 

 commonly in Piatt Co., Illinois, and abundantly along the Illinois 

 River in Putnam Co. 



Grundtvig records it as far north as Shiocton, Outagamie County 

 (Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts & Let., Vol. X, p. 140). Messrs. Kum- 

 lien and Hollister say: " In suitable localities in the southern and 

 western parts of the state the prothonotary warbler is not a rare 

 summer resident." 



Breeds in May and June. The nest is of moss, usually in a hole 

 .in a dead tree or stump. The eggs are 3 to 6, white or faintly buff, 

 irregularly marked with various shades of brown, and measure about 

 .69 X .55 inches. 



The Field Museum collection contains a set of 6 eggs taken at 

 Lima, 111., May 22, 1889, and another of 4 eggs taken at English Lake, 

 Lake Co., Indiana, June 30, 1907. 



