Male without white eye-ring; and with a black breast veiled with gray. L. 5½.
Range. Nests from northern New York and Michigan to Canada, south in the mountains to West Virginia; winters in the tropics.
Washington, very rare T.V., May 6-30; Aug. 17-Oct. 1. Ossining, rare T.V., May 28-29; Aug. 18-Oct. 1. Cambridge, rare T.V., May 22-June 5; Sept. 12-25. N. Ohio, tolerably common T.V., May 5-28. Glen Ellyn, rather rare T.V., May 18-June 8; Aug. 17-. SE. Minn., uncommon T.V., May 13-; Aug. 1-Sept. 10.
The Mourning Warbler is one of the rarer Warblers which, by good fortune, we may occasionally see toward the end of the spring migration. It is usually found in the lower growth, being a brush and tangle haunter of woods and clearings. Its song, which is described as clear and ringing, is uttered frequently, often from a dead limb. The nest is built in briars or bushes within a foot or two of the ground. The eggs, laid in the first half of June, are white with a few brownish spots at the larger end.
MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT
Geothlypis trichas trichas. [Case 8], Figs. 50, 51
The gray-bordered, black mask of the male makes him unmistakable. The female is without distinctive markings, but may easily be identified by her notes and actions. L. 5¼.
Range. Nests from Virginia and the lower Mississippi Valley northward; winters from North Carolina to Florida.
Washington, abundant S.R., Apl. 13-Oct. 21. Ossining, common S.R., Apl. 28-Oct. 23. Cambridge, abundant S.R., May 5-Oct. 20; occasional in winter. N. Ohio, abundant S.R., Apl. 25-Sept. 25. Glen Ellyn, common S.R., May 2-Oct. 2. SE. Minn., common S.R.
A fidgety, inquisitive inhabitant of bushy undergrowth along roadsides and wood borders, whose impatient off-repeated call-note, chack, chack, and energetic song of wichity, wichity, wichity, soon become familiar to the bird-student. It nests on or near the ground and the white, lightly spotted eggs are laid in the latter half of May.
The Florida Yellow-throat (G. t. ignota), a more deeply colored race, is found from North Carolina to southern Florida. In the last-named State it usually inhabits scrub palmetto growths.