MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT 

 (Geothlypis trichas and variety) 



Length, about sJ inches. Mostly green above, 

 yellow below. Distinguished from other war- 

 blers by broad black band across forehead, bor- 

 dered narrowly with white. 



Range: Breeds from southern Canada to 

 southern California, Texas, and Florida; win- 

 ters from the southern United States to Costa 

 Rica. 



This little warbler is common throughout the 

 Eastern and Southern States, frequenting 

 thickets and low bushes on swampy ground. 

 He is not a tree lover, but spends most of his 

 time on or very near the ground, where he 

 hunts assiduously for caterpillars, beetles, and 

 various other small insects. Among the pests 

 that he devours are the western cucumber 

 beetle and the black olive scale. ' He has a 

 cheery song of which he is not a bit ashamed, 

 and when one happens to be near the particu- 

 lar thicket a pair of yellow-throats have chosen 

 for their own, one has not long to wait for 

 vocal proof that the male, at least, is at home. 

 The yellow-throat has the bump of curiosity 

 well developed, and if you desire a close ac- 

 quaintance with a pair you have only to 

 "squeak" a few times, when you will have the 

 pleasure of seeing at least one of the couple 

 venture out from the retreat far enough to 

 make sure of the character of the visitor. 



YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (Icteria 

 virens and subspecies) 



Length, about "jVz inches. Its size, olive- 

 green upper parts, and bright yellow throat, 

 breast, and upper belly distinguish this bird at 

 a glance. 



Range: Breeds from British Columbia, Mon- 

 tana, Wisconsin, Ontario, and southern New 

 England south to the Gulf States and Mexico ; 

 winters from A'lexico to Costa Rica. 



The chat is one of our largest and most 

 notable warblers. It is a frequenter of brushy 

 thickets and swampy new growth, and, while 

 not averse to showing itself, relies more upon 

 its voice to announce its presence than upon 

 its green and yellow plumage. Not infre- 

 quently the chat sings during the night. The 

 song, for song we must call it, is an odd jumble 

 of chucks and whistles, which is likely to bring- 

 to mind the quip current in the West, "Don't 

 shoot the musician; he is doing his best." In 

 this same charitable spirit we must accept the 

 song of the chat at the bird's own valuation, 

 which, we may be sure, is not low. Its nest is 

 a rather bulky structure of grasses, leaves, and 

 strips of bark, and is often so conspicuously 

 placed in a low bush as to cause one to wonder 

 how it ever escapes the notice of marauders 

 fond of birds' eggs and nestlings. 



The chat does no harm to agricultural inter- 

 ests, but. on the contrary, like most of the 

 warbler family, lives largely on insects, and 

 among them are many weevils, including the 

 alfalfa weevil and the boll weevil so destruct- 

 ive to cotton. 



(See Biol. Surv. Bull. 17, p. 18 ei scq.; also 

 Circular 64, p. 5.) 



OVEN-BIRD (Seiurus aurocapillus) 



Length, a little over 6 inches. Above mostly 

 olive green ; below white, breast and sides 

 streaked with black. 



Range : Breeds from southern Mackenzie, 

 Ontario, southern Labrador, and Newfoundland 

 south to Wyoming, Kansas, southern Missouri, 

 Ohio Valley, and Virginia; also in mountains 

 of Georgia and South Carolina ; winters in 

 southern Florida, southern Louisiana, Bahamas, 

 West Indies, and southern Mexico to Colombia. 



The oven-bird is one of our best-known 

 birds and one the woodland stroller is sure to 

 get acquainted with, whether he will or no, so 

 common is it and so generally distributed. In 

 moments of ecstacy it has a flight song which 

 has been highly extolled, but this is only for 

 the initiated; its insistent repetition of "teacher, 

 teacher, teacher," as Burroughs happily phrases 

 it, is all the bird vouchsafes for the ears of 

 ordinary mortals. Its curious domed-over 

 grass nest is placed on the ground and is not 

 hard to find. The food of the oven-bird does 

 not dilTer greatly from that of other warblers, 

 notwithstanding the fact that the bird is strictly 

 terrestrial in habits. It consists almost exclu- 

 sively of insects, including ants, beetles, moths, 

 span worms, and other caterpillars, with a few 

 spiders, millepods, and weevils. 



(See Biol. Surv. Bull. 17; also yearbook for 

 igoo, p. 416.) 



RED-FACED WARBLER (Cardellina 

 rubrifrons) 



Range : Mainly in Transition Zone in moun- 

 tains of southern Arizona and southwestern 

 New Mexico and south through Mexico to the 

 highlands of Guatemala, 



So differently colored from our own North 

 American warblers generally is the little red- 

 face that one might at once suspect it to be a 

 stranger from a strange land. So at least it 

 seemed to me when, in the mountains near 

 Apache, Arizona, in July, 1874, I saw the first 

 one ever detected within our borders. Later in 

 the same year I found others on ilount Graham. 

 It is a Mexican species which has obtained a 

 foothold along our southern borders in Arizona 

 and New IMexico. As I noted at the time, I 

 saw flocks of ten or fifteen among the pines 

 and spruces, the birds frequenting these trees 

 almost exclusively, only rarely being seen on 

 the bushes that fringed the stream. In habits 

 red-faced warblers are a rather strange com- 

 pound, now resembling the common warblers, 

 again recalling the redstart, but more often, 

 perhaps, bringing to mind the less graceful mo- 

 tions of the familiar titmice. Their favorite 

 hunting places appear to be the extremities of 

 the limbs of spruces, over the branches of 

 wdiich they quickly pass, with a peculiar and 

 constant sidewise jerk of the tail. Since 1874 

 other observers have had a better chance to 

 study the bird and a number of nests have been 

 taken. These were under tufts of grass, and 

 in the case of one found by Price was "such a 

 poor attempt at nest-building and made of 

 such loose material that it crumbled to frag- 

 ments on being removed." 



80 



