BIRDS OF NEW YORK 453 



Entire upper parts olive green slightly more brownish than in the male;- 

 forehead often tinged with reddish brown; throat and breast yellowish, 

 sometimes dingy white; rest of under parts whitish tinged more or less, 

 especially on the sides, with brownish; whitish eye ring; no black 

 mask. 



Length 5.33 inches; extent 7.20; wing 2.20; tail 2.05; bill .42; tarsus .80. 



Distribution. Breeds from North Dakota, northern Minnesota, 

 northern Ontario and southern Labrador, south to central Texas, northern 

 parts of the Gulf States and Virginia; winters from North Carolina and 

 Louisiana to Florida, the West Indies and Guatemala. In New York 

 this species is a summer resident of all parts of the State. Though it is 

 confined to swampy localities, it is abundant in the coastal district as well 

 as the central and western counties and even the interior of the Adirondacks 

 where I found it breeding commonly at Elk lake and the " Flowed land " 

 within a few miles of Mt Marcy. The spring migration begins from the 

 28th of April to the loth of May, average date being May 5 in the south- 

 eastern counties, May 4 in western New York. In the fall it disappears 

 between the 15th and the 25th of October, in the coastal district, and from 

 the 5th to the 15th of October in western New York. The Yellow-throat, 

 like the Yellow warbler. Redstart and Ovenbird, is one of the dominant 

 species of this family in New York, and is one of the four best known 

 warblers in all portions of the State. 



Haunts and habits. The Maryland yellow-throat is not a bird of 

 the dense forest, but frequents the swampy thicket and the edges of moist 

 woods, the margins of wooded streams, or dense tangles in damp open 

 woodlands. I have even found it a member of the marsh society far from 

 the edge of the wood, associated with the Swamp sparrows and Marsh 

 wrens, especially where a few bushes were intermingled with the dense 

 growths of flags and sedges. Where garden shrubbery lies near the edge 

 of ponds or swampy tracts, the Yellow-throat will sometimes make its 

 home among the berry and currant bushes or about the edges of the garden 

 shrubbery. It spends most of its time near the ground but is rarely seen 

 walking about like some of its near relatives, but almost continually flitting 



