i^ROTHOKOTAIRy WAKBLEJtt. 2S 



record of any individual reaching northern Florida before the last of 

 the month; the average time of recorded first arrivals is the first week 

 in April, and the earliest dates on which any were seen are March 22, 

 1890, when Brewster noted one on the Suwanee River, and March 22 

 and 26, 1885, when many were seen around Perdido lighthouse. The 

 average date of the arrival of the earliest prothonotary warbler in 

 spring at Raleigh, N. C, is April 18. 



It seems evident that the Louisiana birds do not come by way of 

 Florida, for the average date of earliest arrival in the vicinity of New 

 Orleans for five 3^ears was March 18, the extremes being March 13, 

 1888, and March 23, 1895. In the vicinity of Yicksburg, Miss., the 

 average date of earliest arrival during four years was April 6, with 

 extremes of April 3, 1889, and April 8, 1900, or about the same as in 

 northern Florida. Vicksburg is but 150 miles north of New Orleans, 

 3"et the birds take, on an average, nineteen days to make the short jour- 

 ney. This may be explained by the observations of Prof. G. E. Be^^er, 

 who has noted that when the birds arrive on the coast of Louisiana, 

 they seem to be very much exhausted and remain resting and feeding 

 for several days in one localit}^ before they continue their journey 

 northward. The av^erage date during six years on which the earliest 

 arrival at St. Louis was recorded was April 21, and for five years at 

 Keokuk, Iowa, May 9. 



There is one direct observation of the migration of prothonotar}^ 

 warblers from their winter home to the United States. A large num- 

 ber were hcen at noon of April 22, 1881, 30 miles off the coast of 

 Louisiana, striving to reach the shore against a severe norther. It is 

 interesting in this connection to note that the individual that flew 

 against the light at Sombrero Ke}^, March 11, 1888, as mentioned 

 above, struck at 3 o'clock in the morning, there being a fresh wind 

 from the north. If it started to fly at the usual time, soon after dark, 

 the previous evening, there was not time enough for it to have come 

 from Honduras or even from Yucatan. It probably, therefore, flew 

 from Cuba. 



The prothonotary warbler also apparently crosses the Gulf to the 

 coast of Texas; and the few records of first arrivals in Texas — Lomita 

 ranch, March 26, 1880; Matagorda Island, March 31, 1900; Dallas, 

 April 8, 1898, and April 6, 1899 — indicate that the birds arrive on the 

 coast at this longitude at about the same time as farther east. The 

 dates of earliest arrival at Manhattan, Kans., are April 25, 1891, 

 April 26, 1894, and April 26, 1895. 



Fall migration. — The prothonotary warbler is one of the most inter- 

 esting species to study in its fall movements on account of its avoid- 

 ance of the West Indies and Mexico. The summer birds of the 

 Mississippi Valley pass south in the fall and eventually reach the 

 coast of the Gulf of Mexico, with Louisiana as the center of abun- 



