192 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 
throat. He is often shy and you may foliow his 
voice for a long time and not get a glimpse of 
the bird, but see him once and you will never for- 
get the picture. You will find him hopping about 
either on the ground or near it, for he is truly a 
eround warbler. 
His back is olive-green, with the chin, throat, ° 
and breast rich yellow. The forehead is black, 
and there is a peculiar, mask-like, oblong black 
patch on each side of his face that extends from 
the bill back to the neck, and is separated from 
the dark part of the head by a strip of ash. The 
colors of the female are much duller, as she lacks 
the black patch and the bright yellow. 
If you would see the Maryland yellow-throat 
at his best, you must invade the dense tangle of 
an alder swamp, so often the fugitive’s last ref- 
uge, where you can get only mosaic glimpses of 
blue sky overhead, and cannot distinguish a per- 
son twenty feet away: where you must push 
through the interwoven boughs, picking your 
steps around bogs, over slippery logs and tree 
trunks, where luxuriant growths of wild grape- 
vine, clematis, and the clinging galium beautify 
the sturdy alders; where the royal fern, stretch- 
ing above your waist, flowers in obscurity. 
Here, in this secure cover, our little friend 
seems to lose his timidity and blossoms out in the 
full beauty of his nature. We find him singing to 
himself as he runs over the alder boughs, exam- 
