612 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



TKCHNMCAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: A broad "mask" of deep black covering the forehead and sides of liead 

 and neck, includinji; the eye, and bounded posteriorly by a narrow edging of bluish-white 

 or gray; rest of upper parts, including wings and tail, olive-green, grayer in front, greenish 

 on rump and upper tail-coverts; chin, throat, and breast bright yellow, fading to yellowish 

 white on the belly, and l>ecoining brownish on sides and flanks; under tail-coverts bright 

 yellow. l'\Mnale without any black or white on head; olive green above; grayish on side 

 of head; thi-oat and breast pale yellow; belly and sides brownish white; under tail-coverts, 

 buffy. 



Length of male 4.40 to 5.75 inches; wing 2.05 to 2.20; tail 1.90 to 2. Female somewhat 

 smaller. 



294. Yellow-breasted Chat. Icteria virens virens {Linn.). (683) 



Synonyms: Chat, Common Chat, Yellow Chat. — Tiuilus virens, Linn., 1758. — Icteria 

 viridis, Bonap., 1825, Nutt., 1832, Aud., 1834. 



Plate LXIII. 



Largest of the warblei\s, almost as large as the Catbird, and recognizal)le 

 at a glance by the olive-green or olive-gray back, black stripe from l)ill 

 to eye, bordered above and below by white, and especially 1)}' the rich 

 golden yellow throat and breast and al)ruptly white belly. Wings and 

 tail are like the back and unspotted. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States to the Plains, breeding north to 

 Ontario and southern New England; south in winter to eastern Mexico, 

 Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. 



Making all due allowance for the peculiar habits of the Chat and the 

 character of the country frequented, it is nevertheless certain that it 

 is not a common bird anywhere in the state. It seems to be entirely 

 confined to that part of Michigan south of 43°, and practically to the 

 three lower tiers of counties. The reports seem to show that it is a regular 

 but by no means a common visitor to Monroe, Washtenaw and Wayne 

 counties, and probably also to Hillsdale, Branch and St. Joseph counties, 

 and it has been taken, or at least satisfactorily seen, in half a dozen other 

 counties. 



The northernmost record seems to be that of Dr. Atkins, who states 

 that at Locke, Ingham county, it was first taken August 11, 1876 and 

 was common until October 2. This record is decideclly puzzling, since 

 the period indicated is precisely that during which the Chat is practically 

 silent, and aside from this statement of Dr. Atkins we have no record 

 of the bird in the state in the fall. Careful search for this species in the 

 vicinity of Lansing, Ingham county, was unrewarded for nearly a dozen 

 years, but on May 21, 1905, at Chandler's Marsh, about two miles north 

 of the Agi'icultural College, the writer an B. H. Swales heard one of these 

 birds several times, and later in the day about a mile west of Park Lake, 

 Clinton county a second one was heard. Neither of these was obtained 

 or even seen, but as both observers are perfectly familiar with the notes 

 of the birds there can hardly have been any mistake. 



P. A. Taverner states that in June 1894, Mr. A. B. Covert, Dr. Wolcott 

 and himself collected half a dozen Chats in a limited locality near Ann 

 Arbor, and he was informed that Mr. Covert and Professor Worcester 

 took the eggs of the Chat in the same locality a year or two later. At 

 Pearl Beach, St. Clair county, June 5, 1904, Mr. Taverner caught a glimpse 



