OF VIRGINIA 279 
specked and spotted with reddish-brown, wreathed on the 
larger end. Size, .64x.52. Fresh eggs May 15th to 20th. 
Only one brood a season is reared. They are most active 
birds, going up and down the tree trunks and under side 
of the limbs, after the manner of the creepers, in search 
of food, which consists of spiders, larva, insects, beetles, 
caterpillars and moths. One can not but admire the ease 
in which they work, sometimes head downward, some- 
times up, inspecting every crack and crevice in the bark, 
especially at the base of the limb where it joins the inain 
trunk. Pine trees are their favorite wood with us. There 
is no doubt but that they help greatly in keeping in 
check the many insects that attack the bark of that tree. 
They leave us about August 5th on the southward migra- 
tion, and those coming from farther north pass through 
up till August 30th; a few occasionally remain later. We 
found them a common breeder in the mountains above 
3,500 feet altitude. 
GENUS PROTONOTARIA. 
[637]. Protonotaria citrea (Boddaert). Prothonotary 
Warbler, 
Ranex.—Eastern North America and northern South 
America. Breeds in Austroriparian zone and along river 
bottoms or Carolinian zone from northeastern Nebraska, 
southeastern Minnesota, southern Wisconsin, southern 
Michigan, Ohio, central Delaware, and eastern Maryland 
south to eastern Texas and northern Florida; winters 
from Nicaragua to Colombia and casually in Venezuela 
and southern Mexico; apparently crosses the Gulf in 
migration; accidental in the West Indies and not found 
in Mexico north of Campeche; casual north to New York, 
