The female, having no mask, keeps to the background, but she is not less interested than her mate in the progress of events. When the scout returns to report, there is often a curious outbreak of discussion, in which the husband, as like as not, finds it necessary to defend his opinion with a perfect torrent of wzschthubs.
Taken in Douglas County. Photo by the Authors.
A WESTERN YELLOW-THROAT’S NEST.
NEST CONTAINS TWO EGGS OF THE YELLOW-THROAT AND TWO OF THE COWBIRD.
Yellow-throat’s song is one of the few explicit things in the swamp. Mounting a weed-stalk, he rubs out, Witchity, witchity, witchity, or “I beseech you, I beseech you, I beseech.” Rhythm is the chief characteristic of this song, and altho a given bird appears to be confined to a single type, the variety of “feet” offered by a swamp is most entertaining. Reésiwitte, reésiwitte, rit’, was the cadence of a Douglas County bird; while chitooreet’, chitooreet’, chitooreet’, chu, heard at Chelan, reminded me of the Kentucky Warbler (Oporornis formosa). The bird has also an ecstacy song, “a confused stuttering jumble of notes” poured out in hot haste in mid-air.
Like an echo from “the different world” came the song of a bird at Brook Lake. We had just been listening to the unwonted notes of a Desert Sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata deserticola) some hundreds of miles out of its usual range, and were not unprepared for shocks, when Hoo hee, chink i woo chu tip fell upon the ear. What! a Slate-colored Sparrow here in the sage brush! Or is it, maybe, a Vesper, grown precise? Again and again came the measured accents, clear, strong, and sweet. Not till I had seen the mandibles of a Western Yellow-throat, and that repeatedly, moving in perfect rhythm to the music, could I believe so small a bird the author of this song. For fifteen minutes the Warbler brought forth this alien strain, Hee-o chiti wo, chu tip or Hee oo chitiwew chu tipew without once lapsing into ordinary dialect. Wherever did he get it?
My nests have nearly all been found in June and, I guess, they may have contained second sets, for the bird sometimes reaches Yakima County as early as March 29th. One was sunk in a tussock of grass within eight inches of the swamp water, and I nearly stepped on the female before she flew. Another was lashed at a height of two feet to a group of rank weeds, some forty feet removed from a lazy brook. A third, shown in the illustration, we found while dragging over a dense patch of rye-grass, some three hundred yards from water. The nest was composed entirely of the flattened and macerated leaves of old rye-grass gleaned from the ground, with a scanty lining of horse-hair. It was simply set, or wedged, in between the stiff, upgrowing stalks of grass at the height of a foot, and was not attached in any manner to its supports. The male bird, strange to say, was covering the eggs, of which two belonged to that contemptible shirk, the Cowbird.
No. 82.
THE PACIFIC YELLOW-THROAT.
A. O. U. No. 681 c. Geothlypis trichas arizela Oberholser.
Synonym.—Puget Sound Yellow-throat.
Description.—Adults: Very similar to G. t. occidentalis and with corresponding changes but throat, etc., rich lemon yellow (inclining to greenish, whereas occidentalis inclines to orange); more yellow in grayish olive green of upperparts; ashy border of mask said to average more narrow (very doubtful). Alleged differences in measurements are inconsequential.
Recognition Marks.—As in preceding.
Nesting.—Much as in preceding form but birds more nearly confined to vicinity of water. Eggs: 4. Av. size, .76 × .53 (19.3 × 13.5). Season: first week in May, first week in June; two broods.
General Range.—“Pacific coast district, from British Columbia southward; breeding southward to Los Angeles County, California, and eastward to Fort Klamath, Oregon; during migration to Cape St. Lucas” (Ridgw.).
Range in Washington.—Summer resident in fresh and salt water marshes west of the Cascades.
Migrations.—Spring: Tacoma, April 12, 1905, April 6, 1906.
Authorities.—? Audubon, Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 463, part (Columbia River). Geothlypis trichas, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX, 1858, 241, part. (T). C&S. L². Ra. B. E.
Specimens. Prov. B. E.
In our younger days some of us were taught to be seen and not heard. Among the Yellow-throats the children are taught the opposite. A bird that can call “Witch-et-y! Witch-et-y! Witch-et-y!” in a dozen different places thru the swale and in the meantime can keep out of sight while you are looking for him, is a well brought-up Yellow-throat. We were taught to tell the truth, but deceit is drilled into the Yellow-throat children from the time they leave the egg. A human mother insists upon your looking at her children, but at the approach of a visitor the Yellow-throat mother sneaks off the nest and away thru the bushes for the sole purpose of persuading you the home is in the reeds on the other side of the creek. This may be wrong according to our teaching, but it is perfectly right according to the Yellow-throat’s code of morals.
If you want to see Yellow-throat, you must go down along the swale or visit some damp thicket or swamp. He likes the rushes and the reeds where the Red-winged Blackbird and the Tule Wren live. I once found a Red-wing’s nest and a Yellow-throat’s home within a few feet of each other. If you want to see this ground warbler, go to his haunt. He will see you first but lie down quietly among the bushes. He will likely get curious and hop up out of the reeds. You may get just one good look before he darts away into the bushes again.