MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT. 255 
of inseéts, and inseéts draw numerous birds, especially Warblers. The thickets on the 
water’s edge, consisting of red-osier!, round-leaved dogwood’, arrow-wood’, wahoo’, 
and a number of different white thorns® are now in their full glory. Near by in the 
meadow the ground is carpeted with innumerable flowers, and over them, in the air, the 
Bobolinks sing their rollicking and jubilant strains. In the high elms above us the 
gorgeous Baltimore Oriole utters its flute-like notes, while not far away the Veery’s 
enchanting anthems fill the woodland’s edge with the sweetest music. The Meadow 
Lark, the Swamp Sparrow, the Redwing, the Red-eyed Vireo, the Indigo Bunting, etc., 
sing their merry notes on all sides. All nature seems to be imbued with joy, happiness, 
and song. The sorrow and grief of the friend of nature is soon forgotten in this 
salubrious air, in this beauty and joy of nature. Rapture and happiness are gradually 
filling his heart also. 
While we are resting on the grass near a mass of bushes and rank herbs, we see 
a very beautiful little bird, yellow on the under-side, olive-green above, and the forehead 
and sides of the head marked with pure black. It is the MaryLanp YELLOW-THROAT, 
one of our familiar birds, and, perhaps, the most abundant of all our Warblers, not 
even excepting our garden and park-loving Summer Vellowbird. In almost any shrub- 
bery near water, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, and from the Gulf States to 
British America, may be found a pair of these happy and sprightly little creatures. 
‘Being one of the terrestrial Warblers, it lives much on or near the ground, hence its 
popular name “Ground Warbler.” It differs notably in its haunts and habits from the 
beautiful arboreal Warblers of the Dendroica-group, although its song reminds one 
frequently of the lays of other members of its family. If we observe closely, we see the 
grass and herbs move, and not long after a beautiful little bird appears at the top of one 
stout stem, first surveying its surroundings and then uttering its sprightly notes. In 
scrambling about in bush and brier, the undergrowth of the woodland’s edge, the cool 
brook, the tangle in the swamp border, and the shrubbery of the meadow, it resembles 
much the Carolina Wren. ‘“‘Like many other birds of the bush, whose hidden haunts inspire 
a feeling of safe seclusion, but do not afford a very good view of what is going on, the 
Yellow-throat shows in its actions toward 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 furtive 
way close to the ground, and is much more rarely observed than her sprightly mate.’* 
From its winter home in Central America, the West Indies, and the South Atlantic 
and Gulf States it arrives in south-western Missouri about April 20. In the first days 
of May we see it in northern Illinois, and in Sheboygan County, Wis., it is rarely 
common before May 15. Late in August and early in September the majority leave 
1 Cornus stolonifera, 2 C. circinata, 8 Viburnum dentatum. 4 Euonymus atropurpureus. 5 Crataegus. 
‘ 
* New England Bird Life. By W. A. Stearns and Dr. Elliott Coues. Vol. I, p, 164. 
