Species II r. SYLVIA MARILANDICA. 



MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT. 



[Plate VI. Fig 1, Male ] 



Turdus Tiicha.i, Linn. Sysi. i., 293. — Evw. 237. — Yellow-breasted Warbler, Arct. 

 Zool. II., No. 283. III. 284. — Le FiyuUr aiix Junes naires, Buff, v., 292. — La 

 Fauveite d, poitrine jaiinc de la Louisiane, Buff, v., 162. PI. Enl. 709, fig. 2. — 

 Lath. Syn. iv., 433, 32. 



This is one of the humble inhabitants of briars, brambles, alder 

 bu.shes, and such shrubbery as grows most lu.xuriantly in low watery situ- 

 ations, and might with propriety be denominated Humility, its business 

 or ambition seldom leading it higher than the tops of the underwood. 

 Insects and their larvi\3 are its usual food. It dives into the deepest of 

 the thicket, rambles among the roots, searches round the stems, exa- 

 mines both sides of the leaf, raising itself on its legs so as to peep into 

 every crevice ; amusing itself at times with a very simple, and not dis- 

 agreeable, song or twitter, ivhitititee, ivhitititee, wkitititee ; pausing for 

 half a minute or so, and then repeating its notes as before. It inhabits 

 the whole United States from Maine to Florida, and also Louisiana ; 

 and is particularly numerous in the low swampy thickets of Maryland, 

 Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It is by no means shy ; but seems 

 deliberate and unsuspicious, as if the places it frequented, or its own 

 diminutiveness, were its sufficient security. It often visits the fields of 

 growing rye, wheat, barley, &c., and no doubt performs the part of a 

 friend to the farmer, in ridding the stalks of vermin, that might other- 

 wise lay waste his fields. It seldom approaches the farmhouse, or city ; 

 but lives in obscurity and peace amidst its favorite thickets. It arrives 

 in Pennsylvania about the middle, or last week, of April, and begins to 

 build its nest about the middle of May : this is fixed on the ground, 

 among the dried leaves, in tlie very depth of a thicket of briars, some- 

 times arched over, and a small hole left for entrance ; the materials 

 are dry leaves and fine grass, lined with coarse hair ; the eggs are five, 

 white, or semi-transparent, marked with specks of reddish brown. The 

 young leave the nest about the twenty-second of June ; and a second 

 brood is often raised in the same season. Early in September they 

 leave us, returning to the south. 



This pretty little species is four inches and three quarters long, and 

 six inches and a quarter in extent; back, wings and tail, green olive, 



(167) 



