PRAIRIE WARBLER. 
153 
I have yet met with ; seeming to examine every blade 
of grass, and every leaf; uttering at short intervals a 
feeble chirr . I have observed one of these birds to sit 
on the lower branch of a tree for half an hour at a 
time, and allow me to come up nearly to the foot of the 
tree, without seeming to be in the least disturbed, or 
to discontinue the regularity of its occasional note. In 
activity it is the reverse of the preceding species ; and 
is rather a scarce bird in the countries where I found 
it. Its food consists principally of small caterpillars 
and winged insects. 
The prairie warbler is four inches and a half long, 
and six inches and a half in extent; the upper parts are 
olive, spotted on the back with reddish chestnut ; from 
the nostril over and under the eye, yellow ; lores, black ; 
a broad streak of black also passes beneath the yellow 
under the eye; small pointed spots of black reach from 
a little below that along the side of the neck and under 
the wings ; throat, breast, and belly, rich yellow ; vent, 
cream coloured, tinged with yellow ; wings, dark dusky 
olive ; primaries and greater coverts, edged and tipt 
with pale yellow ; second row of coverts, wholly yellow ; 
lesser, olive ; tail, deep brownish black, lighter on the 
edges, the three exterior feathers broadly spotted with 
white. 
The female is destitute of the black mark under the 
eye ; has a few slight touches of blackish along the 
sides of the neck ; and some faint shades of brownish 
red on the back. 
The nest of this species is of very neat and delicate 
workmanship, being pensile, and generally hung on the 
fork of a low bush or thicket ; it is formed outwardly 
of green moss, intermixed with rotten bits of wood and 
caterpillar’s silk ; the inside is lined with extremely 
fine fibres of grape-vine bark ; and the whole would 
scarcely weigh a quarter of an ounce. The eggs are 
white, with a few brown spots at the great end. 
These birds are migratory, departing for the south in 
October. 
