. WOOD WARBLERS. 371 



681. Geothlypis trichas (Linn.). MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT. 

 (Fig. 106.) Ad. $ . A broad band across the forehead, and on the cheeks and 

 ear-coverts black, bordered behind by grayish ; rest of the upper parts, wings, 

 and tail olive-green, sometimes tinged with brownish ; no wing -bars or tail- 

 patches ; throat and breast bright yellow, changing to whitish on the belly ; 

 sides washed with brownish ; under tail-coverts yellow. Ad. $ in fall. 

 Similar, but browner above ; black mask tipped with grayish ; belly more 

 yellow ; sides browner. Im. $ . Similar, but the black mask more concealed, 

 sometimes merely indicated by a dusky area. Ad. 9 . No black mask ; up- 

 per parts, wings, and tail olive-green, the forehead sometimes tinged with 

 rufous ; throat and Iweast yellowish, changing to whitish on the belly ; under 

 tail-coverts yellow ; sides brownish. L., 5-33 ; W., 2-20; T., 2-04; B., -42. 



Range. Eastern North America, west to the Plains ; breeds from the Gulf 

 States to Manitoba and Labrador; winters from the Gulf States southward. 



Washington, abundant S. E., Apl. 18 to Oct. 20. Sing Sing, common 

 S. K., Apl. 28 to Oct. 23. Cambridge, abundant S. K., May 5 to Oct. 20. 



Nest, bulky, of strips of bark, coarse grasses, and dead leaves, lined with 

 tine grasses, tendrils, and rootlets, on or near the ground. Eggs, three to five, 

 white, rather thinly speckled and spotted with rufous to umber, chiefly 

 sometimes entirely at the larger end, '70 x -53. 



One of the first acquaintances you will make, when you begin to 

 look for birds, will be this black-masked inhabitant of thickets and 

 bushes. Indeed, you have only to pause near his home, when he 

 will meet you halfway. He announces his coming by an impatient, 

 quickly repeated chack, varying to chit, pit, quit, as, hopping from 

 twig to twig, he finally appears for a moment and then darts back 

 into the cover of his haunts. 



His song is characteristic of his active, nervous nature, and is de- 

 livered with much force and energy. It varies greatly with locality, a 

 fact which may account for the quite different descriptions given of 

 it by authors. Sometimes it is written wichity, wichity, wichity, 

 wichity ; again, rapity, rapity, etc. : but the birds near New York city 

 seem to me to say 1 beseech you, I beseech you, 1 beseech you, I beseech 

 you ; though, to be sure, the tone is far from pleading. 



They sing throughout the summer, and in August add a flight 

 song to their repertoire. This is usually uttered toward evening, when 

 the bird springs several feet into the air, hovers for a second, and then 

 drops back to the bushes. 



681b. G. t. ignota Cftapm. FLORIDA YELLOW-THROAT; PALMETTO 

 BIRD. Similar to the preceding, but with longer tarsus, tail, and bill ; yellow 

 of under parts of a deeper shade and of greater extent ; flanks of a much 

 darker color ; upper parts browner ; black mask wider, its ashy border (in 

 summer specimens) slightly paler and of greater extent : first primary shorter, 

 equaling the eighth instead of the sixth. W., 2-17 ; T., 2-18 ; B., 47. 



Range. Florida and southern Georgia. 



