Maryland Yellow-Throat 65 



half hour. This operation occurred more frequently as the parents became 

 accustomed to the presence of the tent. Both birds shared equally in this 

 task. Often the female would stand on inspection for fully five minutes, if 

 unrewarded, leaving only when her mate made his next visit. Several times 

 I saw her pick at the plumage of the young as though trying to remove lice. 

 In going to and from the nest the birds communicated with one another by 

 low twitters. Occasionally the male paused in his work to give a faint song. 



"On one occasion the male fed two of the young. Before he had left, the 

 female arrived with an insect. He held his bill toward her as though wishing 

 to take the food from her. Not heeding him she proceeded to feed the young 

 one last favored by the male. Quickly her mate removed the food from the 

 young one's mouth and thrust it into the bill of the third young one, which 

 had received nothing. This would make it appear that the parent birds do 

 actually keep some account of which young they have last fed. In the case 

 of another species, however, I have known one young to be fed six times to 

 his brother's once. 



"The next day I found the feathers of the young ones had developed 

 greatly. The sheaths were almost all gone and the little birds were covered 

 with a coat of soft feathers; greenish brown above, buffy beneath. They were 

 now eight days old. I photographed them without taking them from the nest. 

 Two days later they were gone, but the anxious calls of the parents told me 

 that they were safely hidden away somewhere in the shadow of the old fence- 

 row." 



The Yellow-throat is found in suitable localities throughout the United 

 States, also in southern Canada, and, as we have seen above, in winter as far 

 south as Central America. In the various sections of its range the bird assumes 

 a slightly different appearance in its coloration and for this reason it has been 

 divided by ornithologists into six distinct races, the names and distribution of 

 which, in addition to the eastern form already described, are as follows: 



Western Yellow-throat, found in western North America from central 

 Alberta and South Dakota to northeastern Lower California and western 

 Texas. 



Florida Yellow-throat, breeds in the south Atlantic coastal country from 

 southern Virginia to south Florida and along the Gulf Coast to Louisiana. 



Pacific Yellow-throat, found in the Pacific Coast region from southern 

 British Columbia to southern California. Winters south to Cape San Lucas 

 the southern end of Lower California. 



The Salt Marsh Yellow-throat has been described from the salt marshes 

 about San Francisco Bay. 



Belding's Yellow-throat is another western form found in the cape region 

 of Lower California. 



