THE PACIFIC YELLOW-THROAT. 203 



Warbler (Opororuis fonnosa). The bird lias also an ecstacy song, "a con- 

 fused stuttering jumble of notes" poured out in hot haste in mid-air. 



Like an echo from "the different world" came the song of a bird at 

 Brook Lake. W^e had just been listening to the unwonted notes of a Desert 

 Sparrow (Atiiphispiza bilincata dcscrticula) some hundreds of miles out of 

 its usual range, and were not unprepared for shocks, when Hoo hcc, chink 

 i woo cliit tip fftU upon tiie ear. W' hat ! a Slate-colored Sparrow here in the 

 sage brush! Or is it, maybe, a Vesper, grown precise? Again and again 

 came the measured accents, clear, strong, and sweet. Not till I had seen 

 the mandibles of a W'estern Yellow-throat, aiul that repeatedly, moving in 

 perfect rhythm to the music, could I believe so small a bird the author of this 

 song. For fifteen minutes the Warbler brought forth this alien strain, Hee-o 

 cliiti zvo, chii tip or Hcc 00 chitirwcw cliii tipr^i' without once lapsing into 

 ordinary dialect. Wherever did he get it ? 



My nests have nearly all been found in June and, 1 guess, they may iiave 

 contained second sets, for the bird sometimes reaches Yakima County as early 

 as March 29th. One was sunk in a tussock of grass within eight inches of 

 the swamp water, and I nearh' stepped on the female before she flew. Another 

 was lashed at a height of two feet to a group of rank weeds, some forty feet 

 removed from a lazy brook. A third, shown in the illustration, we found 

 while dragging over a dense patch of rye-grass, some three hundretl yards 

 from water. The nest was composed entirely of the flattened and macerated 

 leaves of old rye-grass gleaned from the ground, with a scanty lining of 

 horse-hair. It was simply set, or wedged, in between the stiff, upgrowing 

 stalks of grass at the height of a foot, and was not attached in any manner to 

 its supports. The male bird, strange to say, was covering the eggs, of which 

 two belonged to that contemptilile shirk, the Cowbird. 



No. 82. 

 THE PACIFIC YELLOW-THROAT. 



.\. n. L'. No. 681 c. Geothlypis trichas ari/ela ( Jlx-rholscr. 



Synonym. — PuGKT Sound Yicli.ow-thko.at. 



Description. — Adults: \'ery similar to G. t. occidciitalis and witli corres- 

 ponding changes but throat, etc.. rich lemon yellow ( inclining to greenish, whereas 

 occidciitalis inclines to orange); more yellow in grayish olive green of upper- 

 parts: ashy border of mask said to average more narrow (very <lonhtfu!). 

 .Mleged differences in measurements are inconscf|uential. 



Recognition Marks. — As in preceding. 



Nesting. — Much as in preceding form lint l)irds more nearly confined to 



