_Maryland Yellow-throat._ +Wils.+
_Trichas Marylandica._
_Turdus trichas_, +Linn.+
_Sylvia trichas_, +Lath.+—Aud. pl. 23.
_Trichas Marylandica_, +Sw.+
[31] Length 5 inches, expanse 7, flexure 2⁴⁄₁₀, tail 1⁹⁄₁₀, rictus
⁶⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁹⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹³⁄₂₀.
We have now arrived at an extensive group of birds of small size, and
delicate form, mostly known by the name of _Warblers_. All of them are
merely winter visitants in Jamaica, the greater number retiring to
the Northern continent to breed and spend the summer. To Wilson’s and
Audubon’s descriptions, I refer the reader, as I have scarcely anything
to add to their accounts of these birds.
The Yellow-throat, one of the most beautiful of them, was first seen
by me on the 8th of October, on which day I obtained two males, in
distinct localities. I do not think the species had arrived long,
though some of the _Sylvicolæ_ had been with us nearly two months, for
I and my servants were in the woods every day seeking for birds, and
this species is too striking to be easily overlooked. In the latter
autumn months it was quite common, particularly in marshy places: I
have seen it in some numbers hopping busily about the bulrushes in a
pond, even descending down the stems to the very surface of the water,
and picking minute flies from thence. The stomachs of such as I have
examined, contained fragments of beetles and other insects.
In the spring, it seems to linger longer than its fellows; for the last
warbler that I saw was of this species, on the 1st of May. Yet Wilson
mentions that it habitually appears in Pennsylvania about the middle,
or last week, of April; and that it begins to build its nest about the
middle of May. The migration of the short-winged birds is probably
performed in straggling parties, and extends over a considerable period
of time; individuals remaining some time after the greater number have
departed.