55 "THE PACIFIC YELLOW-THROAT. 
vicinity of water. Eggs: 4. Av. size, .76x.53 (19.3 13.5). Season: first week 
in May, first week in June; two broods. 
General Range.—"Pacific coast district, from British Columbia southward ; 
breeding southward to Los Angeles County, California, and eastward to Fort 
Klamath, Oregon; during migration to Cape St. Lucas” (Ridgw.). 
Range in Washington.—Summer resident in fresh and salt water marshes 
west of the Cascades. 
Migrations.—S pring: ‘Tacoma, April 12, 1905, April 6, 1906. 
Authorities.— ? Audubon, Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 463, part (Columbia River). 
Geothlypis trichas, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX, 1858, 241, part. (T). C&S. 
ILA, Re, 18h, 1B 
Specimens.—Proy. B. E. 
IN OUR younger days some of us were taught to be seen and not heard. 
Among the Yellow-throats the children are taught the opposite. A bird that 
can call “Witch-et-y! Witch-et-y! Witch-et-y!’’ in a dozen different places 
thru the swale and in the meantime can keep out of sight while you are look- 
ing for him, is a well brought-up Yellow-throat. We were taught to tell the 
truth, but deceit is drilled into the Yellow-throat children from the time they 
leave the egg. A human mother insists upon your looking at her children, 
but at the approach of a visitor the Yellow-throat mother sneaks off the 
nest and away thru the bushes for the sole purpose of persuading you the 
home is in the reeds on the other side of the creek. ‘This may be wrong 
according to our teaching, but it is perfectly right according to the Yellow- 
throat’s code of morals. 
If you want to see Yellow-throat, you must go down along the swale 
or visit some damp thicket or swamp. He likes the rushes and the reeds 
where the Red-winged Blackbird and the Tule Wren live. I once found 
a Red-wing’s nest and a Yellow-throat’s home within a few feet of each 
other. If you want to see this ground warbler, go to his haunt. He will 
see you first but lie down quietly among the bushes. He will likely get 
curious and hop up out of the reeds. You may get just one good look 
before he darts away into the bushes again. 
The male Yellow-throat always wears plain marks of recognition on 
his face. He has a black mask extending across his forehead and back on 
the sides of his head. The female goes without a mask and is clothed in 
subdued tints of yellow and brown. 
When the Yellow-throat seeks a home, he finds a thick tussock of 
grass and hides his nest well in the middle. It is my experience that 
when you want to find his home, it is better not to look for it. If you 
keep on tramping thru the swamps and swales, some day you will stumble 
on one when you least expect it. Once I hunted for several days about 
a swampy place where I heard the Yellow-throats singing. Not a sign 
of a nest did I find. Whenever I appeared the birds were on hand as if 
