164 SYLVICOLID^ : AMERICAN WARBLERS. 



MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT. 

 Geothlypis trichas {L.) Cab. 



Chars. Male, adult : Above, olive-green, rather grayer anteriorly 

 and brighter on rump ; forehead and broad band on side of head 

 pure black, bordered above by hoary-ash ; under parts, including 

 under wing-coverts and edge of wing, rich yellow, fading to whit- 

 ish on the belly ; wings and tail dusky, unmarked, glossed with 

 olive-green ; bill black ; feet flesh-color. Female : Without the 

 black and ash on the head, the crown quite brownish, an obscure 

 supraciliary line, and the yellow of the under parts pale and re- 

 stricted ; smaller than the male. Young : Resembling the female 

 in lacking distinctive head-markings, and often quite buffy or 

 tawny instead of clear yellowish. In any plumage, the bird may 

 be known by the shortness of the wings, these being usually less 

 in length than the tail, at most equal to it, and by lack of any 

 clear ash on the throat. In the fall and winter the adults resem- 

 ble each other, and both show much of the buff tinge which the 

 young exhibit. Length, 4.75-5.00 ; extent, 6.50-6.75 ; wing and 

 tail, each, 1.90-2. 10. 



Any shrubbery in New England may be tenanted all 

 summer long ^oy this pretty and sprightly little creat- 

 ure — perhaps the most abundant of all the Warblers 

 of our country, not even excepting the Yellow-bird, 

 and one which has the most complete distribution 

 throughout the three Faunas represented within our lim- 

 its. Being one of the "Ground Warblers," and hence 

 differing notably in its haunts and habits from any of 

 the beautiful Dcndroeca genus, it resembles a Wren in 

 its fondness for bush and brier, the covert brook, the 

 undergrowth of woodland, and the tangle that shad- 

 ows the swamp. Like many other birds of the bush, 

 whose hidden haunts inspire a feeling of safe seclu- 

 sion, but do not afford a very good view of what is 

 going oh, the Yellow-throat shows in its actions to- 



