70 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



is a little beauty, golden yellow below, bright green above, 

 ornamcntGd by a black mask which is bordered above by 

 gray. Thanks to the modest dress and unobtrusive ways of 

 the female and the caution and foresight with which the Yel- 

 low-throats care for their nest, which is so well hidden that 

 even the Cowbirds can not find it easily, the species, with 

 slightly differentiated geographic races, is one of the most 

 abundant Warblers with a breeding range from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific and from Florida to Labrador and British Co- 

 lumbia. 



YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. IcteHa vireus. 



When in May or June you take a stroll through the Synopsis 

 and are suddenly startled by a low whistle in your near neigh- 

 borhood, as if somebody whistles to his dog, it is very Ukely 

 a bird of the size of a Tanager, wearing a green coat over a yel- 

 low waist, black lores and white eyelids, the Chat, our largest 

 Warbler. If you stop to watch him, you may be quite amused 

 by his queer antics and quaint song. Mounted on top of a 

 tree he will leap into the air and with measured wing beats, 

 raising his wings so high as to touch above, fly with dangling 

 legs and jerky, prancing motion to another tree. When you 

 remain near him, you will be surprised by the variety of notes 

 he has in his repertoire, mostly odd notes in different keys, 

 guttural chucks, humanly whistles and explosive sounds, all 

 of which lead you to think he may be mocking other birds, 

 but they are all his invention. For two months he is one of 

 our noisiest birds, but becomes less and less musical in July, 

 stopping entirely before the end of the month never to be 

 heard again before his departure. When not singing, the 

 Chat is a mysterious bird, for in spite of its large size and 

 bright colors, males and females being alike, it is seldom seen. 

 In addition to its choosing the most impenetrable thickets it 

 has a knack of hiding in their deepest recesses, but is less care- 

 ful in the location of its nest and often the victim of the Cow- 

 bird. Nevertheless the Chat with only one geographic varia- 

 tion, the Long-tailed Chat of the west, has a breeding range ex- 

 tending from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Gulf 



