198 MARYLAND YELLOW- THROAT. 
manner of a Turkey cock, and, with great seeming difficulty, utters a 
few low, spluttering notes, as if proceeding from his belly ; always, 
on these occasions, strutting in front of the spectator with great con- 
sequential affectation. 
To see the Red-Bird, who is himself so excellent a performer, 
silently listening to all this guttural splutter, reminds me of the great 
Handel contemplating a wretched catgut scraper. Perhaps, however, 
these may be meant for the notes of love and gratitude, which are 
sweeter to the ear, and dearer to the heart, than all the artificial solos 
or concertos on this side heaven. ; 
The length of this species is seven inches, breadth eleven inches ; 
the head and neck are of a very deep silky drab; the upper part of 
the breast, a dark changeable violet; the rest of the bird is black, 
with a considerable gloss of green when exposed to a good light} the 
form of the bill is faithfully represented in the plate—it is evidently 
that of an Emberiza; the tail is slightly forked; legs and claws, 
glossy black, strong and muscular; iris of the eye, dark hazel. Catesby 
says of this bird, “It is all over of a brown color, and something 
lighter below ;” a description that applies only to the female, and has 
been repeated, in nearly the same words, by almost all succeeding 
ornithologists. ‘The young male birds are at first altogether brown, 
and for a month, or more, are naked of feathers round the eye and 
mouth; the breast is also spotted like that of a Thrush, with light 
drab and darker streaks. In about two months after they leave the 
nest, the black commences at the shoulders of the wings, and gradu- 
ally increases along each side, as the young feathers come out, until 
the bird appears mottled on the back and breast with deep black and 
light drab. At three months, the colors of the plumage are complete, 
and, except in moulting, are subject to no periodical change. 
MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT—SYLVIA MARILANDICA. 
— Fic. 86.— Frema.e. 
TRICHAS PERSONATUS., — Swainson. — Frmave. 
Tue male of this species having already been represented, * 
accompanied by a particular detail of its manners, I have little further 
to add here relative to this bird. I found several of them round Wil- 
mington, North Carolina, in the month of January, along the margin 
of the river, and by the Cypress Swamp, on the opposite side. The 
individual from which the figure in the plate was taken, was the actual 
nurse of the young Cow-Pen Bunting, which it is represented in the 
act of feeding. 
It is five inches long, and seven in extent; the whole upper parts, 
green olive; something brownish on the neck, tips of the wings, and 
head; the lower parts, yellow, brightest on the throat and vent; legs, 
* See Fig. 19. 
