- head masked with black, separated by ash-white line from crown. Black bill; flesh-coloured feet.
- Female:
- Smaller, and colours less distinct; mask wanting, as it is also in the young.
- Song:
- "Follow me, follow me, follow me!"
- Season:
- From May to September. Commorsummer resident.
- Breeds:
- From Georgia northward.
- Nest:
- Large and deep, sometimes partly roofed over; made of broad
grasses, either on ground or in bushy tangles.
- Eggs:
- 4-6, white, sparsely sprinkled with brown.
- Range:
- Eastern United States, mainly east of the Alleghanies, north to Ontario and Nova Scotia; in winter, South Atlantic and Gulf States and the West Indies.
Next to the Yellow-Wood Warbler, this Ground Warbler is the best known and merriest of the entire clan, and easily identified by his mask, yellow throat, and distinetive song.
Early in May you will see a flash of yellow among the white flowers of the dogwood (Cornus florida), or quivering in the willows, and a bright eye peers through the black mask and a sweet, persuasive voice calls, "Follow me, follow me, follow!" If you wisely accept the invitation, you will become so well acquainted with all of his little innocent airs and graces that before the summer has passed you will recognize his plainer, maskless mate, and perhaps note the plumage development of the young.
In following this Merry Andrew across some old pasture or along a thickly shrubbed fence, you will also discover his nest. The nest that I have now before me was found not far below the garden wall, in an old meadow, where a tangle follows the watercourse, and was lodged between tall weeds and grasses at a little distance from the ground. It is of a long cup-shape, the form of the little baskets in which strawberries used to be sold, and which were called pottles. It is quite bulky, made of wide grass-blades and leaves, and very thick at the bottom, the nest being shallow in the interior and lined with vanilla grass. This nest is not roofed over, but shows a tendency to it by being higher and slightly curved on one side, as if the bird had intended to form a roof and then changed its mind.
111
