MARYLAND YELLOW:-THROAT. 
a streak of whitish ash; upper parts, wings, and tail 
olive green, slightly tinged with brown; there are no 
wing-bars nor tail patches; throat and breast bright 
yellow, lighter at the under parts; sides olive brown. 
Female similarly marked, but browner on the back, and 
with the black replaced by a brown-olive tone; yellow 
of throat also paler. Nest on or near the ground; built 
of dead leaves, strips of bark, and plant fibre, and lined 
with finer material of the same nature. Egg white and 
speckled mostly at the larger end with madder brown 
and umber. This bird’s range is throughout eastern 
North America west to the Plains, and north to Mani- 
toba and Labrador. It breeds from southern Georgia 
northward, and winters from the Gulf States to the 
tropics. 
The familiar song of the Maryland Yellow-throat 
scarcely needs description. It is commonly composed 
of three syllables, rendered in a variety of ways. To 
wit: Witchery, witchery, witchery ! or Which-way-sir ? 
which-way-sir ? which-way-sir? or Wichity, wichity, 
etc., or Rapity, rapity, etc., or Which-is-it ? which-is-it ? 
etc., or What-a-pity, what-a-pity! etc., or I-beseech-you, 
I-beseech-you! etc., etc. One is at liberty therefore to 
take his pick of the various sentiments. In any case 
the rhythm of the bird is remarkably exact and there is 
no missing the song. After hearing all the Maryland 
Yellow-throats about Boston and also the White Moun- 
tain region sing a trisyllabic song, I was delighted to 
find, one early morning in the Arnold Arboretum, one of 
Mr. Chapman’s New York birds singing the four-sylla- 
bled I-beseech-you version, thus: 
d= 
Sforzando cres. 3 times ovd. 
youyou, I be-seech you, I be-seech you I be-seech- 
k ' 
