Maryland Yellow-Throat 63 



Immediately upon its arrival at its summer home the Maryland Yellow- 

 throat announces its presence with a series of chirps and calls highly charac- 

 teristic of the bird. It soon bursts into song and its loud and pleasing 

 notes may be heard issuing from its thicket home at various times during 

 the day. Some males, however, seem to be more vocal late in the evening. 

 It does not leave off singing after the end of the nesting period, but, 

 like the Red-eyed Vireo, may be heard at various times during the warm 

 summer days. 



Mr. F. Schuyler Mathews, a well-known bird student and writer regarding 

 the songs of wild birds, has this to say of the song of the one under discussion : 



"The familiar song of the Maryland Yellow-throat scarcely needs de- 

 scription. It is commonly composed of three syllables, rendered in a variety 

 of ways. To wit: Witchery, witchery, witchery, or Which-way-sir? which-way- 

 sir? which-way-sir? or Wichity, wichity, etc., or Rapity, rapity, etc., or Which- 

 is-it? which-is-it? etc., or What-a-pity, what-a-pity, etc., or I-beseech-you, I- 

 beseech-you , etc., etc. One is at liberty therefore to take his pick of the various 

 sentiments. In any case the rhythm of the bird is remarkably exact and there 

 is no missing the song. After hearing all the Maryland Yellow- throats about 

 Boston and also the WTiite Mountain region sing a trisyllabic song, I was 

 delighted to find, one early morning in the Arnold Arboretum, one of Mr. 

 Chapman's New York birds singing the four-syllabled I-beseech-you version. 

 But the bird sang the song his own way, and did not conform strictly to Mr. 

 Chapman's rendering. 



"There is no more tone to this bird's voice than there is to that of the Oven- 

 bird; consequently I cannot say that the intervals represent true pitch." 



Many observers unite in the statement that usually two broods are reared 

 in a year. The nest is made on the ground, and, in fact, one might almost say 

 in the ground, for a portion of the lined cup in which the eggs are laid is 

 sometimes below the actual level of the soU. 



As is knowTL to all bird students, a great amount of pleasure may be derived 

 from watching closely the habits of a bird when about its nest. Spying on the 

 home-life of a pair of feathered inhabitants of the forest very often reveals 

 many interesting traits and habits not otherwise suspected. A man who has 

 been fond of thus emplo}dng his time is Alfred C. Redfield, of Wa}Tie, Pa. 

 Writing in the July- August issue of Bird-Lore for 191 1, he had this to say of 

 his experience ^ith a family of Maryland Yellow-throats. 



"On the foUo-^dng day, May 27 it was, I returned and approached more 

 cautiously. There, on the nest, was a Httle olive-backed bird, a female Mar}'- 

 land Yellow- throat, looking up at me with fearless shining black eyes. I 

 leaned over, and when my hand was almost touching her, she shpped from the 

 nest and crept silently through the grass to the shelter of the briars, from 

 whence I saw her watching me with anxious eyes. 



"The nest was lodged in a thick bunch of grass. The outer part was a 



