ICTERIA VIREXS, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. 77 



very retiring habits rendered it a rather difficnlt species to secure. Oc- 

 casionally, however, a male would mount to the highest point of the 

 thicket to pour forth his warbling melody, almost unrivalled in sweet- 

 ness by that of any other of the forest songsters." 



Tlie nest is a rather slight but neat structure, placed on the ground, 

 composed of various soft librous materials and fine grasses, mostly cir- 

 cular arranged, lined with fine rootlets. The eggs, judging from several 

 sets before me, collected by Mr, Ridgwaj', lack the sharp speckling of 

 reddish-brown found mostly throughout this family, being variously 

 blotched, in an entirely irregular manner, with very dark l)rown, and 

 smirched with several shades of lighter dirty brown, together with some 

 obscure neutral shell-markings ; the ground is white, as usual. Extremes 

 of size and shape which have offered, are 0.70 by 0.50 and 0.05 by 0.52. 



lOTEKlA VIKE^S, (Linn.) Bd. 



Tellow-brejistcd Chat, 



a. virens. 



Turdiis virens, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, 1758, 171. 



leteria rirois, Bd., Rev. 1865, 228. — Suaiich., Mem. Bost. Soc. i, 1869, 54. — Lawk., Ann, 

 Lye. ix, 1863, 95 (Costa Rica) ; ix, 1869, 200 (Yucatau).— Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. 

 iii, 1872, 17.5.— COUES, Key, 1872, 108, fig. 48. 



Miiscicajxi viridis, Gm., Svst. Nat. i, 1788, 936. 



Icteria viridis, Bi-., Obs. Wils. 1826 ; SyD. 1828, 69 ; List, 1838 ; Consp. Av. i, 1850, 331.— 

 NuTT., Man. Oru. i, 1832, 299.— At'd., Oru. Bioj?. ii, 1834, 223; v, 1839, 433. pi. 

 137; Syn. 1839, 163; B. Am. iv, 160, pi. 244.— Woodh., Sitgr. Rep. 18.53, 73.— 

 Bi)., B. N. A. 1858, 248 ; aud of lale local writer.s.— Hoy, Souths. Rep. 1864, 437 

 (Missouri, breeding).— Coop., Aui. Nat., Aug. 1869 (Fort Uuiou, breeding). — SCL., 

 P. Z. S. 1870, 836 (Honduras).— C.U5., .1. f. 0. viii, 403 (Costa Rica). 



Icteria dnmicoln, Vieill., Ois. Am. Sept. ii, 1897, 85, pi. 55. 



Pipra poljujlotfa, Wils., Am. Orn. i, 1808, 90, pi. 6, f. 2. 



(?) Icteria auricoUis, LicilT. — Bp., Consp. Av. 1850, 331. 



(f ) Icteria vclasquezii, Bp., P. Z. S. 1837, 117 ; Consp. 1850, 331.— ScL. & Salv., 1859, 12. 



b. longicauda. 



Icteria longicauda, Lawr., Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. vi, 1863, 4. — Newb., P. R. R. Rep. 

 vi, 1857, 81.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 249, pi. 34, f. 2.— Heerm., P. R. R. Rep. x, 1859, 

 55.— SCL., Cat. 1861, 42.— Hayd., Rep. 1862, 160.— CouKS, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 

 71.— Coop., Pr. Pbila. Acad. 1.--70, 75.— Coop., B. Ct.l. 1870, 98.— Aiken, Pr, 

 Bost. Soc. 1872, 197 (Colorado).— Meur., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1872, 674. 



Icteria virens var, lomjicauda, Coues, Key, 1872, 108. 



Huh. — The typical form to the high central i)lains; thence replaced by the other. 

 True rireiDi north only to Connecticut Valley. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 4725, -'Nebraska;" 4724, mouth of White River; 

 5304, 5308, 5307, 5310-11, Fort Loolvout ; 5306. Little Cheyenne; 4647-48, Fort Pierre. 



Later Expeditiona. — 61655-59, Ogden, Utah; 61794, Devil's Creek, Idaho. Var. 

 lonqicanda. 



Not obtained by Captain Raynolds' Expedition. 



It has proven impossible to distinguisli the sever.al supposed species enuTucrated in 

 the above synonymy. Nevertheless, I am at present indisposed to follow Dr. Cabanis 

 to the length of uniting them all without varietal (puililication. In the dryer jtortions 

 of the Western United States the species becomes, like otlier birds of that region, less 

 highly colored, tiie olive taking a grayish cast noticeably diflcrent from x\\c rich clear 

 sliade of Eastern s]ieeimens. This chang(^ is accompanied by au increases in average 

 length of tail, althougli tiiis feature does not always obtain. 1 predicate a var. longi- 

 eaiuia upon this basis. Dr. iiayden's specimens appear to belong here. There is some 

 nncertaiuty attaching the determination of the two described ^lexican species ; but as 

 well as I can judge, they are referable to true virens rather than to var. longicauda. 



This is a southern species not exceeding tlie limits of the "Carolinian 

 Fauna," as (U>fmed by IMr. AlU-n (liull. M. C. Z, ii, 1871, D'M). A form 

 extends through Mexico to Guatemala. 1 have seen no West Indian 

 references. The bird does not appear to winter anywhere in the United 



