2IO 



PRAIRIE WARBLER 



Adult $, Spring. — Similar to adult c? but chestnut back marks much reduced 

 or wanting, back duller, black markings less pronounced (better defined than 

 in young c?) wing-bars duller. In very worn plumage (late summer) the upper- 

 parts become grayish, the underparts whitish. 



Adult ?, Fall. — Similar to adult $ in Spring but back with a grayish bloom, 

 cheeks grayer, line over eye less distinct, black markings less pronounced. 



Young ?, Fall. — Similar to adult 2 but no chestnut in back, cheeks still 

 grayer, black marks faint and dusky or entirely absent. 



Nestling. — Above olive-grayish brown; below whitish the breast dusky; a 

 faint grayish line over the eye; wing-coverts blackish tipped with buffy. 



General Distribution. — Eastern United States; north to southern 

 New England and Michigan; west to the Plains. 



Summer Range. — The Prairie Warbler is a bird of middle alti- 

 tudes, shunning the mountains above a thousand feet and rare in the 

 low coastal region of the Gulf States. Along the Atlantic slope it is 

 common from the northern Bahamas and Florida north to Pennsyl- 

 vania, but north of Philadelphia, it is found, as a rule, only near the 

 coast; common locally in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and eastern 

 Massachusetts, where it is characteristic of the barberry districts 

 (Plymouth and Bristol Counties, Martha's Vineyard) ; casual or acci- 

 dental in New Hampshire (HoUis, June 28, 1884, August 23, 1876, 

 September 4, 1876; Manchester, spring, 1901), Ontario (Toronto, 

 May II, 1900; Mt. Forest, May 13, 1905), Michigan (Port Huron, 

 May 20, 1900; Ottawa County, May 26, 1879; Montcalm County), 

 Wisconsin, (Racine, Lake Koshkonong). The western range extends 

 regularly to eastern Nebraska ( West Point, Omaha) , eastern Kansas, 

 rarely to southern Mississippi (Beauvoir), Louisiana (West Baton 

 Rouge Parish), and Texas (Gainesville). 



Winter Range. — The Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and the 

 southern half of Florida. 



Spring Migration. — From its winter home in the West Indies 

 and Florida, the Prairie Warbler begins to move northward early in 

 March, though the full tide of migration does not start until the last 

 of the month. 



PI,ACE 



Raleigh, N. C 



Washington, D. C 



Southeastern New York 



Portland, Conn 



Jewett City, Conn 



Boston, Mass 



Eubank, Ky 



Toronto, Ont 



No. of 

 years' 

 record 



16 



s 

 14 



4 

 10 



8 



7 



Average date of 

 spring arrival 



April IS 



April 22 

 May 4 

 May 6 

 May 7 

 May 8 

 April 20 



Earliest date of 

 spring arrival 



April 6, 1892 



April 19, 1891 



May 1, 1891 



April 27, 1888 



May I, 1896 



May 4, 1891 



April 13, 1893 



May II, 1900 



