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Bird Day Book 



MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT 



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A WELL-KNOWN species is the Maryland yellow-throat, which 

 frequents bushes and tangles along streams and swamps, and 

 is constantly on the move, giving voice to its continually repeated 

 song of "wichity, wichity, witchity, witch." In coloration they 

 are olive-greenish above, and beneath, at least partly, sometimes 

 wholly, yellow ; the forehead and a portion of the sides of the head 

 is black. It builds a bulky nest on or near the ground, generally in 

 a dense tussock of grass, and lays from three to five white, thinly 

 spotted eggs. The Florida yellow-throat is similar but slightly 

 darker and longer-tailed than the Maryland yellow-throat ; it occurs 

 in the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast districts. Somewhat larger 

 and with the lower parts more extensively yellow is the otherwise 

 similar Northern yellow-throat. 



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THE MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT 



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WHILE May bedecks the naked trees 

 With tassels and embroideries. 

 And many blue-eyed violets beam 

 Along the edges of the stream, 

 I hear a voice that seems to say. 

 Now near at head, now far away, 



"Witchery — witchery — witcher." 



An incantation so serene. 

 So innocent, befits the scene; 

 There's magic in that small bird's note- 

 See, there he flits — the yellow-throat; 

 A living sunbeam, tipped with wings, 

 A spark of light that shines and sings 

 "Witchery — witchery — witcher." 

 — Henry Van Dyke. 



