PRAIRIE WARBLER. 
59 
I kept two tame White Herons. These fine birds attracted many visitors who constantly passed 
under the nest, which was only about seven feet from the ground, yet the female yellow bird 
would sit upon her eggs with the utmost composure all the time, and succeeded in rearing a fine 
brood of young. These Warblers breed during the first week in June, and the song of the 
males is uttered constantly at this season. It is loud, clear, and divided into two parts, the first 
of which consists of three or four quick chirps ; the latter portion is more continuous, but is 
somewhat varied. The force with which these notes are delivered causes the little performer’s 
body to quiver all over, quite to the end of the tail. While singing the head is raised, the bird 
ceases its search for insects for a moment and gives its entire attention to the song, then 
will pursue its avocations. Thus these little birds are constantly pouring forth their lays at 
intervals through the day and continue to warble until late in the summer. They are not 
very'active in comparison with other members of the family. We may expect to see the 
Yellow Warblers in Massachusetts about the first week in May ; they moult in August and 
depart for the South in early September. 
DENDEfflCA DISCOLOR. 
Prairie Warbler. 
Dendrceca discolor Baird, Birds of North America, 1858, 290. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Eorm, slender. Size, not large. Tail, slightly rounded. Bill, slender and rather acuminate. Sternum, 
of the same form as that of the preceding; in fact, the sterna of D. maculosa, (Estiva, et discolor are so nearly alike in 
size and form, that if the labels were removed it would be impossible to decide to which species any particular 
sternum belonged. Tongue, thin, horny, rather short, not very acuminate, quite deeply cleft, ciliated at the end and 
along the sides for one-third the terminal length. 
Color. Adult male in spring. Above, greenish-yellow with the middle of the back abruptly marked with more 
or less confluent blotches of chestnut. Wings, brown, edged on the outer webs with greenish. The upper wing 
coverts are tipped with yellowish-white. Tail, also brown, edged on the outer webs with greenish and with long 
spots of white on the inner webs of the six outer feathers. This color extends over two-thirds of the terminal 
length of the two outer feathers, but the inner barely marked with it. Beneath, including sides of head, superciliary 
line, under wing coverts, under tail coverts, and edge of wing, bright yellow; with a line through the eye beginning 
at the base of the bill, a maxillary line or spot, spots on the sides of the neck, streaks on the sides and flanks, black. 
Adult male, in autumn, has the chestnut of the back obscured with greenish; the black of the under portions 
is also washed with yellow. 
Adult female, similar to the young male, but the young female is without a trace of chestnut above where the 
greenish is washed with whitish. The lower portions are paler and exhibit but a few faint lines of black. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
This is a well marked species in the adult plumage and will not be confounded with any other. The young 
females closely resemble those of D. maculosa but may be readily distinguished from them by the white bar on the 
tail of the latter as described under that head. In this young stage of plumage, D. discolor may be known from all 
other young Warblers by the faint streaks of black on the sides. Specimens found breeding in Florida do not differ 
essentially from those taken in New England, except that they are, perhaps, a little smaller. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of twenty-eight specimens from New England and Florida:—Length, 4*75; stretch, 7 - 03; 
wing, 2*25; tail, 1*85; bill, *45; tarsus, -70. Longest specimen, 5-20; greatest extent of wings, 7-35; longest wing, 
2-40; tail, 2-10; bill, -55; tarsus, -74. Shortest specimen, 4-50; smallest extent of wings, 6-30 ; shortest wing, 2-00; 
tail, 1-70; bill, 40; tarsus, -60. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests. The following description was kindly given to me by Mr. Brewster: “The nests, of which I have found 
numbers, agree so nearly in detail that a description of one will suffice for all. They are usually placed in a barberry 
bush, but sometimes in a hazel, and are fastened into *the fork of some upright twig or almost hung, as it were, 
between three or four disconnected shoots. The nest is a closely woven structure, formed externally, of coarse 
