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Migrations.—S pring: Ahtanum (Yakima Co.) March 29, 1900. 
Authorities——Dawson, Auk, XIV. April, 1897, 179. D?. Sst. Ss?. J. 
Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov. 
COARSE grass, stunted bushes, water, and sunshine seem to be the chief 
requirements of this very individual bird. ‘To obtain the first-named, especial- 
ly if represented by his favorite rye-grass, he will forsake water within reason- 
able limits; but his preference is for a grassy swamp dotted with bushes, and 
he does not overlook any considerable area of cat-tails and tulés. Yellow- 
throat is a restless, active little body, and he is among the first to come for- 
ward when you enter the swamp. His method is hide-and-seek and the game 
would all be his, if he did not reveal his presence from time to time by a harsh 
accusing note, a sort of Polish, consonantal explosion, wsschthub,—a sound 
not unlike that made by a guitar string when struck above the stop. If you at- 
tempt to follow the bird, the game ends in disappointment. But if the ob- 
server pauses, curiosity gets the better of the bird, and he is soon seen peering 
out from a neighboring bush, roguery only half hidden by his highwayman’s 
mask. 
The female, having no mask, keeps to the background, but she is not less 
interested than her mate in the 
progress of events. When the 
scout returns to report, there is_ 
often a curious outbreak of dis- 
cussion, in which the husband, as 
like as not, finds it necessary to 
defend his opinion with a perfect 
torrent of weschthubs. 
Yellow-throat’s song is one of 
the few explicit things in the 
swamp. Mounting a weed-stalk, 
he rubs out, Witchity, witchity, 
witchity, or “I beseech you, I be- 
seech you, I beseech.’ Rhythm 
is the chief characteristic of this 
song, and altho a given bird ap- 
pears to be confined to a single 
type, the variety of “feet” offered 
by a swamp is most entertaining. 
Reésiwitte, reésiwitte, rit’, was 
the cadence of a Douglas County 
bird 5 while chitoorcet’. chitoorect , Taken in Douglas County. Photo by the Authors. 
chitooreet, chu, heard at Chelan, A WESTERN YELLOW-THROAT’S NEST. 
= 7 Zi <s5 NEST CONTAINS TWO EGGS OF THE YELLOW-THROAT AND 
reminded me of the Kentucky Pe oe See 
