362 PROTONOTARY WARBLER. 



I also observed them eating the seeds or internal grains of ripe 

 figs. They frequent gardens, building within a few paces of 

 the house ; are particularly attached to orangeries ; and chant 

 occasionally during the whole summer. Early in October they 

 retire to more southern climates, being extremely suscep- 

 tible of cold. 



PKOTONOTAKY WARBLER. {Sylvia protonotarius.) 



PLATE XXIV. -Fig. 3. 



Arct. Zool. p. 410.— Buff. v. 316.— Lath. ii. 494. PL enl. 704.— Peale's Museum, 



No. 7020. 



VERMIVORA ? PROTONOTARIUS— J akdine. 



Sylvia (sub-genus Dacnis, Guv.) protonotarius, Bonap. Synop. p. 86. — The Pro- 

 tonotary Warbler, And. pi. 3, male and female ; Orn. Biog. i. p. 22. 



This is an inhabitant of the same country as the preceding 

 species ; and also a passenger from the south ; with this dif- 

 ference, that the bird now before us seldom approaches the 

 house or garden, but keeps among the retired, deep, and dark 

 swampy woods, through which it flits nimbly in search of 

 small caterpillars, uttering every now and then a few screak- 

 ing notes, scarcely worthy of notice. They are abundant in 

 the Mississippi and New Orleans territories, near the river, but 

 are rarely found on the high ridges inland. 



From the peculiar form of its bill, being roundish and 

 remarkably pointed, this bird might, with propriety, be classed 

 as a sub-genera, or separate family, including several others, 

 viz., the blue-winged yellow warbler, the gold-crowned warbler, 

 and golden-winged warbler, of Plate XV., and the worm-eat- 

 ing warbler of the present plate, and a few more. The bills 

 of all these correspond nearly in form and pointedness, being 

 generally longer, thicker at the base, and more round than 

 those of the genus Sylvia, generally. The first mentioned 

 species, in particular, greatly resembles this in its general 

 appearance ; but the bill of the protonotary is rather stouter, 



