Chat WESTERN BIRDS 



spicuous; a white line from bill to eye, white eye-ring 

 and another white line at side of head below eye, these 

 markings filled in with a black line which extends back 

 from the bill, are noticeable as the bird peeks out at 

 you from some concealing thicket; but the thing that 

 makes these Chats beautiful is the brilliant yellow throat, 

 breast, and belly which become white next the tail. 

 Female similar. Beautiful birds they, indeed, are, and 

 one considers that day a red-letter one on which one 

 of them was seen or heard. 



While with most of the Warblers the joy is in the 

 seeing, their voices for the most part being weak, this is 

 the grand exception which proves the rule, for the Chat 

 is more often seen than heard, at least in the case of the 

 eastern bird. From my observations of the westerner I 

 am inclined to think that he is not so much of a recluse 

 as his cousin, since never have I found them hard to see, 

 when their loud calls had proclaimed their presence. 

 On one occasion a party of bird students sat and watched 

 a glorious male come repeatedly to a near-by picnic table, 

 onto and under it, for the crumbs scattered about. He 

 seemed not to mind in the least the glasses leveled 

 upon him. 



The picnic grounds, which were in southern California, 

 were shaded with large sycamore and live-oak trees, 

 and skirted a little stream whose banks were over-grown 

 with a tangle of bushes and vines, just such a place as 

 the Chats choose for a summer home, for they are sum- 

 mer residents, only, in most of their range. 



They were not the only birds that were enjoying this 

 sylvan spot for the little House Wren had her hole in a 

 dead limb, a Red-shafted Flicker peeked forth from a 

 hole in a sycamore, while gorgeous Tanagers, dull Wood 

 Pewees, Vireos, and smaller warblers filled the trees. 



However, the Long-tailed Chat had proclaimed his 

 presence in a medley of vocal utterances and we had 

 turned a deaf ear to all other sights and sounds, since 



280 



