86 LAND-BIRDS AKD GAME-BIRDS 



head, and a broad bar through the eye, black, bordered above 

 by grayish. Belly white. Other under parts, yellow. 9 with 

 no black or graj'ish. More olive above. Head browner. 

 Beneath, white, j-ellow less and paler. 



(b). The nest is usually placed on the gromid — almost in- 

 variably beside a brook or in a swamp — but occasionall}'' in a 

 thicket or briar, It is composed of (leaves) fine gi-asses, etc., 

 is often lined with hairs, and is sometimes roofed. The eggs 

 average '70 X *o5 of an inch, and are white, sometimes with 

 no markings, but commonly with a few reddish-brown blotches 

 about the greater end, or with a ring about the crown oi fine 

 reddish-brown and lilac markings, or with numerous spots and 

 blotches of the same colors distributed over the entire sur- 

 face. They vary greatly in coloration, but the ground-color 

 is always ( ?) white, and is not usually m\icli marked. In all 

 parts of New England two sets of these eggs are laid annually,, 

 as a rule, in Massachusetts the Ilrst generally appearing in the 

 last week of May. 



(c). The "Maryland Yellow- throats " are probably (on an 

 average, throughout New England) the most abundant of 

 our warblers in summer, and in certain parts of Maine and 

 New Hampshire are neai'ly the most common birds. They 

 come to Massachusetts, from their southern winter-homes, in 

 the first or second week of May, and do not altogether leave 

 it before October. On their arrival, before retiring to the 

 places where they build theii* nests, they spend much of their 

 time in trees, often those on cultivated estates ; but, later in 

 the season, they betake themselves to swamps, thickets, and 

 bushes along the roadsides, and are then seen chiefly on or 

 near the ground. They constantly move their tails, both when 

 on the ground, and when hopping from twig to twig, for they 

 rarely take other than short flights. In their haunts, which 

 cannot be well defined or enumerated, they are ever busy, when 

 not interrupted, in catching the insects and caterpillars, upon 

 which they feed ; and yet, though not shy, they are continually 

 watchful, and mindful of intruders. 



(d). Besides a sharp cliuch, which is loud enough to attro-ct 



