296 Bird Studies. 



The general color of the Maryland Yellow-throat is olive green above. 

 This is relieved on the head by a black band across the forehead, extending 

 M 1 H V 11 over the region immediately about the eye to the cheeks 



throat ^""^ sides of the face. This broad band is bordered by a 



Geothiypis trichas (Linn.), narrow clear gray line behind. The throat is bright 

 greenish yellow, shading into white on the belly and an olive brown on the 

 sides and flanks. The adult female lacks the black band across the forehead 

 and face, the whole top and sides of the head and face being olive green like 

 the back, but often having a strong brownish tinge. Otherwise she is much 

 like the male, but the yellow of the throat is paler and the white below more 

 e.xtensive. The adult male in the fall has the feathers of the black band 

 tipped with clear gray, and is generally suffused to a greater or less degree 

 with brownish, especially on the upper parts. Immature male birds have the 

 black band more obscured by the gray tips of each feather, and sometimes 

 barely discernible. They are more suffused with brown, and duller gener- 

 ally than adult males are in the fall. Fall females, old and young, are often 

 very brown in general tone. 



The Maryland Yellow-throat, while a swamp bird, preferring damp, 

 wet places, yet generally selects such as have more or less bushes 

 and thickets. In places like this you will meet him, or rather he will 

 meet you, for of all the warblers he is only excelled by the Yellow-breasted 

 Chat in curiosity and querulous scolding. The birds are about five inches 

 long. The nest is built in low bushes and grasses close to or on the ground. 

 It is made of dead leaves, grasses, strips of bark and plant fibre and with a 

 lining of finer material. It is very bulky for so small a bird. From three 

 to five eggs are laid. They are white, sparingly spotted or marked 

 about the larger end with reddish and umber browns. They are seven 

 tenths of an inch long and over half an inch in their other diameter. 



These birds are found in Eastern North America, west to the Plains and 

 north to Labrador and Manitoba. They breed from Southern Georgia north- 

 ward and winter from the South Atlantic and Gulf States throughout the 

 tropics. 



The Florida Yellow-throat is closely allied to and is a geographical race 



of the Maryland Yellow-throat. It is a resident bird throughout Florida and 



Florida Yellow- Southern Georgia. It differs from the allied form in 



throat. havintr a proportionately longer bill and tail, in being 



Geothiypis trichas ignota ^ . .... 



chapm. much browner on its upper parts, and m havmg a more m- 



