The twig on which the male is seen, is commonly called in Louisiana the Wild Olive. The tree is small, brittle and useless. It bears an acid fruit, which is sometimes employed as a pickle, and eaten when ripe by some people.
The female is perched on a twig of the Bitter-wood Tree, the wood of which is hard, and resembles that of the Crab. This is also a small tree, and grows along fences, amongst the briars, where the birds are found. Both these trees I have seen in Louisiana only.
Sylvia Trichas, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 519.
Turdus Trichas, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 293.
Sylvia Marilandica, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 85.
Yellow-breasted Warbler, Lath. Synops, vol. iv. p. 438.
Maryland Yellow-throat, Sylvia Marilandica, Wilson, Americ. Ornith. vol. i. p. 88. Pl. 6. fig. 1. Male; and vol. ii. p. 163. Pl. 18. fig. 4. Female.
Adult Male. Plate XXIII. Fig. 1.
Bill of ordinary length, tapering, slender, nearly straight, acute. Nostrils basal, lateral, elliptical, half-closed by a membrane. Head and neck of ordinary size, the latter short. Body rather short. Feet longish, slender; tarsus longer than the middle toe, covered anteriorly with a few scutella, the uppermost long; toes scutellate above, the inner free, the hind toe of moderate size; claws slender, compressed, acute, arched.
Plumage loose, blended. Wings very short, the first quill longest. Tail rounded.