Length: About 5 inches.
Male: Olive-green above, bright yellow below; breast streaked with brown; wings edged with yellow; tail dark brown, with yellow on inner web; no black on head, throat, wings, or tail; bill slender.
Female: Similar; with fainter streaks on breast, or an unstreaked breast.
Song: A sweet chee-chee-chee-chee-chee′-a-wee?
Habitat: Orchards, gardens, and shade trees, rather than woods.
Nest: A beautiful cup lined with felt. This bird’s nest has been recorded as a favorite depository for cowbirds’ eggs.
Range: North America. Breeds from northern Canadian and Alaskan tree-regions to southern Missouri and northern South Carolina; winters from Yucatan to Brazil and Peru.
The Yellow Warbler is one of the best known of its tribe. It is an attractive, lovable little bird, a useful destroyer of small insects that feed upon the leaves of trees, and a charming addition to any orchard or garden, as it flits among the trees like a ray of sunshine.
It is frequently confused with the goldfinch; but careful observation of markings, of flight, and of song will show decided differences. The goldfinch has a black crown, wings, and tail, an unstreaked breast, undulating flight, and a sustained song. This little olive and yellow bird has no black in its plumage; it makes short flights, and sings a simple strain. It is not a seed-eater, like the finches, but is insectivorous.
YELLOW WARBLER
2. THE PINE WARBLER
Length: About 5½ inches.
Male: Upper parts olive-green with a grayish tinge; throat and breast yellow; sides streaked with gray; belly white; wings and tail brownish-gray; wings with two whitish bars; outer tail-feathers tipped with white on inner web.
Female: Similar to male, but browner above and duller underneath.
Notes: “Its alarm note is a sharp chirp, its other notes are few and weak.”
Song: “The song is one of the most soothing sounds of the pine-woods. It has in it the same dreamy drowsiness that characterizes the note of the Black-throated Green Warbler, but is otherwise entirely different in tone and quality, being composed of a series of short, soft, whistling notes, run together in a continuous trill. It resembles, in a way, the song of the Chipping Sparrow, except that it is softer and more musical.”[149]
Habitat: “Pine woods and groves; it seems to prefer the pitch pines, and is one of the few birds that habitually live and breed in woods of this character, like those of Cape Cod. It has been called the Pine-creeping Warbler, from its habit of creeping along the branches, and occasionally up and around the trunks of pines.”[149]
Range: Eastern North America. It is abundant in the South where pine forests are common. It is found in southern Canada, northern and eastern United States, in such pine-regions as Michigan and New Jersey.
3. THE MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT
Length: About 5¼ inches.
Male: Olive-green above, brightest on rump and tail; yellow underneath, with gray sides; a broad band of black bordered at the back with gray extends across the face in the form of a mask. The young males lack the conspicuous mask.
Female: Similar to male, but without a mask.
Note: A sharp call-note chick, frequently repeated.
Song: Witch′-e-tee′-o, witch′-e-tee′-o. Writers interpret the song in various ways. Mr. Forbush’s sich′-a-wiggle, sich′-a-wiggle, sich′-a-wiggle, is an excellent rendering. The song varies with individuals, but is phrased and accented similarly.
Habitat: Roadside thickets, especially near water.
Range: Eastern North America. It breeds from North Dakota eastward to southeastern Canada, and south to central Texas, the northern part of the Gulf States and Virginia; winters from North Carolina and Louisiana to Florida, the Bahamas, Cuba, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.
The Maryland Yellow-throat is a delightful summer visitor. Trim, dainty, exquisitely colored, lithe, and full of song, he is a charming part of the thickets of roadsides and streams.