WARBLERS 



i6i 



the bird-student ; for the Yellow-throat does 

 much of his hunting and frolicking in the brush 

 and thickets near enough the ground to make 

 observation of his movements comparatively easy. 



Indeed, the bird manifests something like a dis- 

 tinct friendliness for and interest in human be- 

 ings, provided they keep at what he considers a 

 safe distance. This, however, does not prevent 

 him from spending much of his time in almost 

 inaccessible marshes, and especially sucli as 

 have heavy cat-tail growths, in which the bird 

 seems veiy much at home. In drier surround- 

 ings he frequently alights on the ground, where 

 he also places his deep cup-shai)ed nest, and 

 hence his somewhat misleading popular name of 

 "Ground \\'arbler," which would be fairly ac- 

 curate if it were applied to the Oven-bird nr the 

 Water-Thrushes. Like these birds, and the 

 Yellow-breasted Chat, the Yellow-throat has a 

 flight song, uttered as he flutters a few feet into 

 the air from a tree-top; but it is little more than 

 a confused and brief inarticulate jumble of notes. 

 and hardly deserves to be called a song at all. 



The Yellow-throat is one of the birds which 

 is frequently imposed upon by the Cowbird. and 

 seems entirely to lack the discernment of the 

 Yellow Warbler and the Chat in detecting, and 

 their wit in defeating, the jiarasite's |)iiryiose. 



Indeed, the female 'S'ellow-throat not only incu- 

 bates the Cowbird's egg, but solicitously feeds 

 the vor;icious foundling, sometimes to the neglect 

 of her own voung, who ni;iy in consequence be 

 almost starved or smothered by the ugly inter- 

 loper. George Gladden. 



Theri- are several regional varieties of the 

 .Maryland Yellow-thro;it. north of the Mexican 

 boundarv, ditTering but little from each other 

 either in size or in coloration. The Florida, or 

 ."southern, \'ello\\-lliroat ( iicollilypis frichas 

 iijiitita ) is found in the s(juthe.-istern United 

 States, breeding from the Disni.il .Swamp in 

 X'irginia soiuh to h'lorida and along the Gulf 

 coast to Louisiana ; in the winter it may be found 

 from the coast of South Carolina to southeastern 

 Texas and Cuba. The \\ Cstcrn Yellow-throat 

 { Grotlilxf^is trirhas (n-cidriitiiUs) . is distributed 

 over the arid region of the western United States 

 and the provinces of southwestern Canada; it 

 winters south to Cape San Lucas and Tepic, 

 Mexico. The Pacific Yellow-throat {Gcothlypis 

 Iriclias aricria) lives in the Pacific coast district, 

 breeding from southern British Columbia to 

 southern California anfl wintering south to Cajie 

 ,San Lucas. The .S.ilt Marsh Yellow-throat 

 I (Jciitlilvf^is triclios siiniiisd ) is limited to the salt 

 m;nshes about .'^an Franci--co P>av. 



Photo by W. L. Finley and H. T. Bohhnaii 



MALE PACIFIC YELLOW-THROAT FEEDING YOUNG 



