THE MABYLAXD YELLOW-THEOAT. 155 



97. THE MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT. 



GEOTHLYPIS TRICHAS (L.) Cub. 

 Yellow-tliroat; Oven-bird (Soutb); Black-masked Ground Warbler. 



This is one of the birds with which the young ornithologist 

 first becomes acquainted, when his newly awakened interest leads 

 him outside of his door-yard. It breeds abundantly all over 

 the Union, but departs in winter for a more southern climate. 

 It is to be sought in wet woods and by the edge of the little 

 morasses about the farm to which one is guided by the cackle 

 of blackbirds. Although not seeking the society of men, it does 

 not strenuously avoid it. 



The nest of the Maryland yellow-throat is constructed during 

 April in Florida, during May in Pennsylvania, and later north- 

 ward. In northeastern Maine eggs have been taken on June 8 

 and at the Grand Menan on June 20 ; in Truckee valley, high 

 among the Sierras, on May 19 ; at Washoe, Nev., May 23 (near 

 hatching) and at Salt Lake in June. 



The nest "is fixed on the ground," to use the concise words 

 of Wilson, "among the dried leaves, in the very depth of a 

 thicket of briers, sometimes arched over and a small hole left 

 for entrance." Occasionally, the structure is elevated a short dis- 

 tance from the ground in the midst of a bush dense enough to 

 afford ample support to the bulky mass. Mr. Gentry mentions 

 that near Philadelphia he has frequently found the nest occupy- 

 ing the heart of a skunk-cabbage — an odorous site. Although 

 a lover of swamps, it yet seeks a dry piece of ground as its 

 home, not caring to risk the welfare of its eggs. 



The materials of the nest vary with the latitude, but in gen- 

 eral consist of leaves amassed together into an incoherent bed, 

 enclosing the deeply sunken cavity of the nest, and giving no 

 appearance of design in the accumulation. Within this rim are 

 loosely interwoven walls of grape-vine bark, grasses and weed- 

 shreds, lined internally with fine grass or hair. The whole is 

 sunk deep into the leaves and among the roots of the brambles, 



