G. TRICHAS : MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT. 165 



ward man that very engaging combination of shy- 

 ness, assurance, and curiosity which are betrayed by 

 a timid child in meeting the advances of a stranger. 

 On approaching the cover, one is sure to be saluted 

 with the sprightly whit'-ti-ti, whit'-ti-ti of the vivacious 

 bird, and will probably see the performer, absorbed in 

 his ditty, upon the outer wall of his leafy retreat; 

 curiosity or preoccupation may detain the singer for a 

 few moments, but he is likely to duck out of sight and 

 reappear at some safer distance, or send his greeting 

 with a mocking accent from some hidden recess of 

 the shrubbery. The female keeps more closely in 

 seclusion, threading her fur- 

 tive way close to the ground, 

 and is much more rarely ob- 

 served than her sprightly mate. 

 The bird announces its arrival 

 with characteristic notes about 

 the beginning of May, but is 

 silent in the fall, when it lingers FlG " * MARYLAND YELLOW- 



THROAT. (Natural size.) 



late amid the rustling of dry 



and brittle underwood, and the rasping of withered 

 reeds ; it is generally November before the final de- 

 parture for the South, though few remain after Sep- 

 tember, except in favored southern localities. The 

 nest is not easy to find, notwithstanding the abundance 

 of the birds, and the fact that they rear two broods, 

 being built on the ground, snugly tucked un4er the 

 foot of a bush or tussock of rank grass, and some- 

 times partly roofed over, like the Oven-bird's. It is not 

 remarkable for elegance or even neatness, ground- 

 nests seldom if ever are, being simply constructed 

 of dry leaves, grasses, and miscellaneous vegetable 



