YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 549 



683 a. LONG-TAILED CHAT. — Ideria virens longicauda. 



Family : The Wood Warblers. 



Length: 7.00-8.00. 



Adults: Upper parts olive-gray ; superciliary, eye-ring, and malar stripe 



white ; lores and line under eye deep black ; throat and breast bright 



yellow ; belly and under tail-coverts white. 

 Young : Upper parts plain dull olive-gray ; lores gray ; throat whitish ; 



chest, sides, and Hanks grayish ; rest of under [larts white. 

 Geographical Distribution : Western United States, east to Great Plains ; 



south into Mexico. 

 Californvi Breeding Range : Chiefly in upper Sonoran zone, west of the 



Sierra Nevada. 

 Breeding Season : May. 

 Nest : Of dry leaves, grasses, and strips of bark ; lin 



with liner grasses ; placed in thickets and bramb] 



of low undergrowth, from 2 to 5 feet above t 



ground. 

 Eggs: 3 or 4 ; glossy white or pinkish, 



speckled and spotted with shatles 



of brown, which are heaviest at the 



larger end. Size 0.92 X 0.70. 



" Is the odd jumble of 

 wliistlc, cliiicks, and caws ut- 

 tered by one bird in that 

 copse yonder, or by half a 

 dozen birds in as many places? 

 Approach cautiously and per- 

 haps you may see him in the 

 air, — a bunch of f<3athers 

 twitched downward \)\ (piecr, 

 jerky notes which animate it. 

 One mii^ht suppose so peculiar 

 a performance would occupy 

 his entire attention, but nevcr- 



683 u. LoNr.-TAii.r.n Ciiat. 



" Where he trhistled and mug 

 from dawn wUH dark.'" 



