276 BIEDS — SYIiVICOLID^. 



The nest of the Maryland Yellow-throat is usually placed on the ground, 

 in weeds, in a grassy place. It is composed mainly of dead leaves and 

 grass, with a lining of fine grasses. The eggs are white, rather thickly 

 sprinkled with spots of reddish-brown. They are from four to six, and 

 vary in size from .55 to .72 in length, by .48 to .58 in breadth. 



GeOTHLYPIS PHILADELPHIA (Wils.) Bd. 

 JVI, umiiig "Warbler. 

 Geothlypia pMladelpMa, Wheaton, Ohio Agrio. Eep. for 1860, 363, 373; Reprint, 1861, 5, 

 15; Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Kep. for 1874, 564; Reprint, 1875, 4.— Langdon, 

 Cat. Birds of Cia., 1877, 6; Revised List, Joarn. Cin. Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 18;9, 172; 

 Reprint, 6. 



Sylvia Philadelphia, Wilson, Am. Orn., iii, 1810, 101. 

 Geothlypis Philadelphia, Baird, Birds N.Am., 1858, 243. 



Bright olive, below clear yellow ; on the head the olive passes insensibly into ash ; in 

 high plumage fhe throat and breast are black, bnt are generally ash, showing black 

 traces, the feathers being black, skirted with aeh, producing a peculiar appearance sug- 

 gestive of the bird's wearing crape ; wings and tail unmarked, glossed with olive ; under 

 mandible and feet flesh color ; no white about eyes. Young birds have little or no ashy on 

 the head, and no black on the throat, thus nearly resembling Oporomis agilis. Length, 

 •''i-5i; wing and tail, each, about 2J. 



Habitat, Eastern Province of the United States and British America; north casually 

 to Greenland ; west to Kansas and Dakota. New Granada. Costa Rica. 



Rather rare spring and fall migrant. Arrives after the middle of May, 

 and again in August and September. It has been taken in Northern 

 Ohio by Mr. Winslow, Dr. Kirtiand, and Dr. Darby. Mr. Langdon notes 

 two or three specimens near Cincinnati. I have taken six specimens in 

 this vicinity. When with us it is a shy, retiring, and silent bird, fre- 

 quenting thickets and brush-heaps in woodland undergrowth. It has 

 much less curiosity than the preceding species. All which I have seen 

 were busily engaged searching for food on the ground, and when dis- 

 turbed, iiew but a short distance to a dense thicket for concealment. I 

 saw one specimen in my garden on the ground beneath currant bushes. 

 They very likely breed in this State. The only nest known was found 

 by Mr. John Burroughs, in the State of New York, in ferns, about a foot 

 from the ground, on the edge of a. hemlock wood. It was quite massive, 

 composed of stalks and leaves. The cavity was quite deep, and lined 

 with fine black rocitlets. The eggs were three in number, measuring .75 

 by .55. They "were of a light flesh color, uniformly speckled with fine 

 brown specks." Young birds have the entire under parts yellow. 

 Sub-family ICTERIIN^. Chats. 



Bijtl conical, bigh and compressed, oulmen and commissure much curved, without notch 

 er biistles ; wing much rounded, shorter than the tail. 



