YeUow-Throata WESTERN BIRDS 



The common alarm note of these birds is a chuck or 

 tsick, and the song as given by Dawson is a sheep sheep 

 sheep shear shear sheep, given in a brisk, business-like 

 tone, devoid of musical quality. 



GENUS GEOTHLYPIS: YELLOW- 

 THROATS. 



To the bird student who has puzzled her brain over 

 various members of this exasperating family, oftentimes 

 being unable to determine to just which species some 

 nondescript female belonged, the Yellow-throats come 

 as a relief. And yet it is only in the case of the males 

 that we can feel quite confident, since the females are of a 

 dull olive-green, their call note and their habitat, rather 

 than their plumage, helping to place them. 



However, it is with delight that one beholds this 

 jaunty male Yellow-throat. Whether found east or west 

 he is so similar in plumage and habits as to make him 

 unmistakable. Nor will the ordinary bird student mind 

 that there are several subspecies which makes it some- 

 what diflBcult to know to a certainty just which bird you 

 are enjoying. Suffice it that when you see a bird about 

 five inches long whose upper parts are a uniform olive- 

 green, whose breast and throat are a brilliant yellow, 

 whose forehead and eyes are masked with a broad black 

 streak edged on the back with a gray, or white, line, you 

 may be sure that you are beholding a Yellow-throat, and 

 it matters little just which particular one he may be. 

 The female lacks the black mask and her breast is duller 

 than that of the male, making her an inconspicuous 

 midget. 



These birds are fond of the water, especially if it be 

 stagnant; swamps, marshes, and sloughs where grow 

 tules and rank grasses being their delight. As the male 



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