II36 



Rural School Leaflet 



habits of its relatives and descends to the ground to feed on ants. Like 

 all other woodpeckers, however, it excavates a hole in a tree in which 

 to rear its young. The opening is usually about two and a quarter inches 

 in diameter, and the hole is from two to twenty-four inches deep, the 

 bottom of the hole being enlarged into a chamber on the floor of which 

 are laid the fi\'e to nine glossy white eggs. 



Other common names for the flicker are high-hole, yellow-hammer, 

 and golden-winged woodpecker. 



MARYLAND YELLOWTHROAT 



Size. — Smaller than 

 an English sparrow. 



General c olo r. — • 

 Olive-green above; 

 yellow below. 



Distinctive features. 

 — The black robber's 

 mask, bordered by 

 gray, and the yellow 

 under parts, brighter 

 on the throat, will 

 identify this bird. 



The IVIaryland yel- 

 lowthroat lives in the 

 tangles of sedges and 

 J thickets that fringe 



marshes or moist, low- 

 lying ground. It 

 would be impossible 

 to find the bird if it had a mind to hide, but the yellowthroat has such a 

 curious disposition that one cannot remain long in its haunts before it 

 gives an impatient chack and hops onto some log or other exposed perch 

 to obtain a better view. Then again it will run along the ground, threading 

 its way among the weeds. Its skulking habits and the peculiar black 

 mask of the male might lead one to suppose him a pygmy highwayman, 

 lying in wait for some unsuspecting passer-by. And, perhaps, he is the 

 most bloodthirsty of them all if we think of the traveler as being a fat 

 beetle or a juicy caterpillar. 



If one remains in the yello^\1:hroat's haunts for any length of time, he 

 is sure to hear it sing, witchiiy, witchity, witchity, witchity, or perhaps we 

 might express it, wichery, wichery, wichery, as :nore suggestive of those 

 mysteries that enshroud the marshes. 



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Mar viand xellmvthroat 



