Male prothonotary warbler photographed at Fort DeSoto State Park, FL.In Pennsylvania and on Prince Edward Island in Canada the prothonotary (pro-tho-NOTE-ar-ee) is an elected official of the court system.
Or, as Wikipedia (the source of the most accurate info that you can get in 2 seconds) defines it:
The prothonotary is the chief court clerk in certain courts of law in certain Anglo-American jurisdictions, including Pennsylvania and Prince Edward Island. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prothonotary
A few weeks ago, Julie was in western PA at a new bird festival in Oil City. An article about her appeared in the local paper and she brought a copy home for us to see. It was a nice article, but I was even more interested in the political ad I saw on page 2. Hey! Ms. Vlasnik has my vote. But we're going to have to follow a dress code....
In some instances from history, including from the Roman Catholic Church, we know that the prothonotary wore a golden robe. This is how our golden warbler got its name. Same as the cardinal, named for the crimson robe worn by the church's cardinal.
This, as my mom would say, is your obscure fact for the day!
5 comments:
BOTB:
You've got MY vote!
Judy, IN
Mrs. Vlasnik makes me think of pickles.
Oh, wait. That's Vlasik.
Up with golden robes, down with frilly collars.
We live in Doylestown, the county seat of Bucks County, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Both my husband and I are lawyers and we say prothonotary (for the court officer) like you say it for the bird!
Martha and Tim
You are a font of knowledge Bill.
RR
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