86 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
head, and a broad bar through the eye, black, bordered above 
by grayish. Belly white. Other under parts, yellow. 9 with 
no black or grayish. More olive above. Head browner. 
Beneath, white, yellow less and paler. 
(>). The nest is usually placed on the ground—almost.in- 
variably beside a brook or in a swamp—but occasionally in a 
thicket or briar. It is composed of (leaves) fine grasses, etc., 
is often lined with hairs, and is sometimes roofed. The eggs 
average ‘70 X ‘55 of an inch, and are white, sometimes with 
no markings, but commonly with a few reddish-brown blotches 
about the greater end, or with a ring about the crown of jine 
reddish-brown and lilac markings, or with numerous spots and 
blotches of the same colors distributed over the entire sur- 
face. They vary greatly in coloration, but the ground-color 
is always (?) white, and is not usually much marked. In all 
parts of New England two sets of these eggs are laid‘annually, 
as a rule, in Massachusetts the first generally appearing in the 
last week of May. 
(c). The ‘‘Maryland Yellow-throats” are probably (on an 
average, throughout New England) the most abundant of 
our warblers in summer, and in certain parts of Maine and 
New Hampshire are nearly the most common birds. They 
come to Massachusetts, from their southern winter-homes, in 
the first or second week of May, and do not altogether leave 
it before October. On their arrival, before retiring to the 
places where they build their nests, they spend much of their 
time in trees, often those on cultivated estates; but, later in 
the season, they betake themselves to swamps, thickets, and 
bushes along the roadsides, and are then seen chiefly on or 
near the ground. They constantly move their tails, both when 
on the ground, and when hopping from twig to twig, for they 
rarely take other than short flights. In their haunts, which 
cannot be well defined or enumerated, they are ever busy, when 
not interrupted, in catching the insects and caterpillars, upon 
which they feed; and yet, though not shy, they are continually 
watchful, and mindful of intruders. 
(d). Besides a sharp chuck, which is loud enough to attract 
