Long-tailed Chat 467 



Long-tailed Chat, Icteria virens longicauda. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 683a— Colorado Records— Allen 72, p. 148 

 Aiken 72, p. 197 ; Henshaw 75, p. 207 ; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 159 

 Drew 85, p. 15 ; Beckham 85, p. 141 ; Miller 94, p. 42 ; Cooke 97, p. 117 

 04, p. 122 ; Dille 03, p. 74 ; Henderson 03, p. 237 ; 09, p. 240 ; Chapman 

 07, p. 268 ; Markman 07, p. 158 ; Gihnan 07, p. 194 ; Warren 08, p. 24 ; 

 Rockwell 08, p. 177. 



Description. — Adult male — Above olive-green with a greyish tinge ; 

 superciliary line, a mark imder the eye, and a malar stripe white ; 

 lores black ; throat and breast, edge of wing and under wing-coverts 

 bright yellow ; abdomen white, flanks buffy ; iris brown, bill black, 

 legs dusky blueish-grey in life. Length 7-0 ; wing 3-20 ; tail 3-40 ; 

 culmen -55 ; tarsus -98. 



The sexes can hardly be distinguished, though the female is generally 

 duller in colour, and the lower mandible a pale horn. The male in 

 autumn and the young bird are very similar. 



The eastern bird is distinguished by its shorter wing and tail, the 

 latter being as a rule shorter than the wing as well, and by the 

 restriction of the white malar stripe, which hardly reaches to below 

 the eye. A female taken by Aiken May 21st, 1899, near Limon, in 

 Lincoln co., now in the Colorado College Mu.seum, is somewhat inter- 

 mediate in character. 



Distribution.— In summer from British Columbia to the neighbourhood 

 of Mexico City, and from western Kansas to the Pacific ; in winter 

 in western Mexico, perhaps as far south as Costa Rica. 



In Colorado the Long-tailed Chat is a common summer resident 

 in the plains and foothills, and also on the western slopes of the Rockies, 

 but it never breeds above 6,500 feet, and does not seem to go any higher 

 at other times. It reaches El Paso co. about the middle of May, and 

 has been noticed by Aiken as early as the 5th of that month. It has 

 been recorded from Boulder co. (Henderson), Denver (Allen), El Paso 

 CO. (Aiken), and Pueblo (Beckham) on the east of the range ; and 

 from Lily in Routt co. (Warren), and Grand Junction (Rockwell), 

 where it breeds, on the west. 



Habits. — Though often found in gardens and thick 

 shrubbery near houses, the Long-tailed Chat shuns 

 observation, and remains concealed in the thickest and 

 densest growth. It is also very suspicious. It is said 

 that no one has yet photographed this or the Yellow- 

 breasted Chat on its nest. As a singer, the Chat is 

 unique among the Warblers • its notes are a singular 



GG 2 



