240 BIRDS—-SYLVICOLIDA. 
PROTONOTARIA CITRM@A (Bodd.) Ba. 
Irothonotary Warbler. 
Protonotaria citrea, WHEATON, Ohio Agri. Rep. for 1860, 363, 373; Reprint, 1861, 5, 15.— 
LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 5. ; 
Protonotaria citrea, COURS, Key, 1872, 93 —WHEATON, Food of Birds, ete., Ohio Agri. Rep. 
for 1874 (1875), 563; Reprint, 3—LANGpon, Journ Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1878, 112; 
Reprint, 3; Rev. List, Journ. Cin. Sec. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 188; Reprint, 22. 
Motacilla citrea, BoppaRT, Tab. Pl. El., 1783, 44. | 
Protonotaria citrea, BaliRD, Birds N. A., 1858, 239. 
Protonotaria citrea, Cours, Key, 1872, 93. 
Golden yellow, paler on the belly, changing to olivaceous on the back, thence to bluish 
ashy on the rump, witgs, and tall; most of the tail feathers largely white on the inner 
webs. Bill black. Length 54; wing 24-3; tail 24. 
Habitat, South Atlantic and Gulf States ; north to Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. 
Accidental in Maine and New Brunswick. 
The Prothonotary Warbler is only known in this State as a summer 
resident in Western Ohio, especially in the vicinity of St. Marys’ Reser- 
voir. lt was first noted as an Ohio bird in 1861, by myself on the auth- 
ority of Mr. Winslow, but by whom taken, and when,I have no informa- 
tion. Since then Mr. Charlies Dury has discovered that it breeds in the 
above mentioned locality, having found its nest in a deserted Wood- 
peckers’ hole in a willow tree. 
Krom Mr. Brewster’s admirable account of this bird, the peer yet writ- 
ten (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, ii1, 1878, 153), | gather that it is one of the 
most abundant and characteristic birds of the low portions of South- 
eastern Illinois and Southwestern Indiana He describes its song as re- 
sembling the note of the Solitary Sandpiper, and its alarm note that of 
the Water Thrush. The nest is built in the deserted hole of a Wood- 
pecker or Carolina Chickadee or in any suitable cavity in a tree or 
building. It 1s built largely of moss, but leaves and twigs are sometimes 
added. The eggs are five or six, sometimes seven. They measure about 
(0 by .88. “ The ground color is clear, lustrous white, with a high polish. 
Hggs from different sets vary considera! ly in markings, but. two types of 
coloration seem to prevail., In one, spots and dottings. of duil brown 
with faint saubmarkings of pale lavender are generally and evenly distri- 
buted over the entire surface. In the other, blotches of bright reddish. 
brown are.so thickly laid on, especially about the larger ends, that the 
ground color is in some instances almost entirely obscured. 
Genus HELMITHERUS Rafinesque. 
Bill large and stout, compressed, almost tanayrine, nearly as long as the head, un- 
notched, unbristled and on a line with the forehead. Wings rather long, considerably - 
longer than the rounded tail. 
