LAND BIRDS. 641 
by Mr. Wood as May 10, and the earliest arrival as April 24, 1904. The 
migratory movement continues all through May, and specimens were 
killed on Pt. Aux Barques Light, Lake Huron, May 11, 1893, on Spectacle 
Reef Light May 19, 1893, May 22, 1890, May 23, 1897 and June 2, 1889. 
The southward migration occurs mostly in September, but there is doubtless 
considerable movement in August, while a few linger into October. A 
specimen was killed on Spectacle Reef Light October 3, 1893. 
This is one of our most inquisitive warblers and so soon as its haunts 
are invaded it begins to utter its querulous or scolding note, which consists 
of a nasal or wiry chip, and it continues to call in this manner, coming 
closer and closer to the intruder, but often keeping entirely hidden, until 
very near, when it is likely to climb to the top of a low bush, or at least 
far enough up to get a view of its enemy, when it suddenly dives again 
into the grass and bushes. : 
The nest is a decidedly bulky structure, as a rule, and is most often 
placed in a tussock of grass or a tangle of vines and low shrubs, seldom 
more than a few inches above the ground, not infrequently directly upon 
it. Some writers state that the nest is occasionally roofed over, being 
globular, with the entrance through a hole in the side, but we have never 
seen such a nest in Michigan or elsewhere. It is built usually of grasses 
and various fibrous materials and lined with finer grasses and hairs. In 
central Michigan it is built the last of May or first of June; probably June 
5 to 10 would cover the period when fresh eggs are most commonly found. 
Second sets are occasionally found in July, but we have been unable to 
prove that this species normally rears a second brood, the evidence seeming 
to show that it does not. The eggs are three to five, white, finely speckled 
with dark brown and black, occasionally marked with fine pen-scratches, 
and average .70 by .52 inches. 
The song of the Yellow-throat is perfectly characteristic, yet no tio 
writers describe it in the same way. Seton Thompson, in his Birds of 
Manitoba, speaks of it as like “rap-pittity, rap-pittity, rap-pittity, rap,” 
and says that to the bramble-scratched follower it often seems to be 
calling loudly and plainly “what a pity, what a pity, what a pity, pit,’’ 
or again ‘‘what’s the matter, what’s the matter, what’s the matter, mat.” 
Chapman writes it: ‘I beseech you, I beseech you, I beseech you, I be- 
seech you” and others have used the words “wichity-wichity-wichity- 
wichity.” Hoffmann says: ‘Three common forms are (a) weé-see-see, 
weé-see-see, weé-see-see, (b) wee-seé-ser, wee-seé-ser, wee-seé-ser, (C) 
wee-see-seé-see, wee-see-seé-see, wee-see-seé-see, wee-see-seé-see” (Guide, 
1904, 104). Many observers testify to the fact that the Yellow-throat 
often rises to some little height in the air and sings a short warbling song 
unlike any of the notes already described. This song is sometimes uttered 
at a height of forty or fifty feet, but more often the bird only rises twelve 
or fifteen feet and hovers while singing, somewhat in the manner of the 
Chat. We have also heard this song repeatedly at night. 
The Yellow-throat is entirely innocent of any harm to the agriculturist, 
and its insect-eating must confer a direct benefit, although from the 
character of the places frequented this cannot be considered very important. 
Prof. Forbes examined stomachs of two Yellow-throats killed in an Illinois 
orchard, where canker-worms were stripping the trees, and found that 
caterpillars made up four-fifths of their food, about half of them being 
canker-worms, while there was eight percent of beetles, five percent of 
small hemiptera and four percent of gnats. 
81 
