EASTERN YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 589 



before the layer of leaves was put in. There were 32 oak leaves and one 

 elm leaf in the body of the nest, all smoothly laid in place. The dimen- 

 sions were: Internal diameter 3 inches, depth 2; external diameter 

 5 inches, depth 3." The second nest was "3 feet from the ground in a 

 wild gooseberry bush intergrown with blackberry briers, amid dense 

 foilage, in a thicket-grown pasture." He mentions seven other nests, 

 seen in Tompkins County, N. Y. ; most were from 2l^ to 5 feet up in 

 various bushes, but one was "about 8 feet from the ground, loosely sup- 

 ported on a drooping young elm tree in a dense thicket." 



T. E. McMullen's notes record data on 34 New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania nests found at heights from 18 inches to 5 feet ; 21 of these were 

 in blackberries, the others being in various bushes and vines ; 3 were 

 in hollies. 



Nests of the yellow-breasted chat have doubtless been found in many 

 other small trees and bushes, but the notes I have cited give a good 

 idea of its usual nesting habits. Dr. Chapman (1907) says that he has 

 known chats to nest in a village when favorable cover was available. 

 A most unusual nesting site is recorded by Charles F. Batchelder 

 (1881) ; a pair of chats began building a nest in a wren box on a piazza ; 

 a violent windstorm blew down the box, which was replaced, but the 

 chats did not return. 



Eggs. — The number of eggs laid by the yellow-breasted chat varies 

 from 3 to 5 to a set, commonly 5, but as many as 6 have been recorded. 

 The eggs are ovate and rather glossy. The white, or creamy white, 

 ground color is speckled and spotted with "bay," "chestnut," "auburn," 

 "argus brown," or "chestnut-brown," with underspottings of "brown- 

 ish drab," "light vinaceous-drab," or "pale brownish drab." The 

 markings, usually sharply defined, are generally scattered over the 

 entire ^g'g with some concentration at the large end. Often the brown 

 and the drab markings are equally intermingled, and then again the 

 drab spots may be entirely lacking. Some of the more attractive 

 eggs are marked with blotches, often of two or three shades of brown 

 mixed with the drabs. The measurements of 50 eggs average 21.9 by 

 16.9 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 25.4 by 

 17.3, 22.1 by 18.3, 18.3 by 17.3, and 22.1 by 15.8 millimeters (Harris). 



Young. — F. L. Burns (1915b and 1921) recorded the incubation 

 period as 15 days, which is probably unusual, for George A. Petrides 

 (1938) determined it to be 11 days "from the appearance of the full 

 clutch." Burns gives 11 days for the young to remain in the nest, but 

 Petrides says that they spent 8 days in the nest before leaving. The 

 latter continues : 



The young were born naked. Brooding of both eggs and young was accom- 

 plished by the female alone during the period of observation, although both 

 sexes evidently feed the young. * * ♦ 



