EASTERN YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 595 



numerous in the narrow valley of the Tela River in northern Honduras. 

 As I passed from a dense second-growth thicket to the comparatively 

 open vegetation of the flood-plain of the river, I was greeted by a 

 chorus of chucks and cackles, which reminded me strongly of the sound 

 of a distant flock of purple grackles or red-winged blackbirds; the 

 voices were by no means so loud as those of the blackbirds when chatter- 

 ing close at hand, yet in aggregate they created much the same impres- 

 sion. A numerous party of garrulous yellow-breasted chats had 

 spread out among the trees and vine-tangles of the stony plain. Al- 

 though they so loquaciously proclaimed their presence, the birds were 

 3^et so wary, lurking among the densest tangles, that they were by no 

 means easy to glimpse ; but during the course of an hour I saw a num- 

 ber, and watched them forage among the Cecropia and other trees. 

 Among their varied utterances were harsh clucks^ as a man makes by 

 clacking his tongue far back in his mouth, to urge a laggard horse, and 

 nasal notes like those of the catbird. How unexpected to come upon a 

 warbler with a voice like a grackle ! Soon the chats were well distrib- 

 uted over the valley; and their calls sounded from every side all 

 through the day. 



"Wliile migrating, yellow-breasted chats may at times appear in the 

 most surprising situations. On October 5, 1934, 1 found one among the 

 open shrubbery of the central plaza of the town of Retalhuleu, on the 

 Pacific coast of Guatemala. Without much doubt, this bird used the 

 little park only as a temporary place of rest, and soon moved on to a 

 more sequestered spot. 



"When well settled in their winter home, the chats gradually grow 

 less loquacious. The flocks in which they apparently arrive soon 

 disperse ; and they live in solitude through the winter months. Avoid- 

 ing the forest, they hunt through the most tangled thickets, where their 

 presence would scarcely be suspected but for their harsh notes occasion- 

 ally voiced. They are at all times so secretive that to glimpse one is a 

 feat — or an accident. They linger deep in their vine-smothered thick- 

 ets until about the middle of April, then return northward. 



"Early dates of fall arrival in Central America are : Guatemala — 

 passim (Griscom) , September 24 ; Colomba, September 29, 1934. Hon- 

 duras— Tela, October 1, 1930. 



"Late dates of spring departure from Central America are : Costa 

 Eica — El Pozo de Terraba (Underwood) , April 9, 1906. Guatemala — 

 passim (Griscom), April 7; Motagua Valley, near Los Amates, April 

 17, 1932." 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southern Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Central 

 America. 



