The Yellow- Breasted Chat (ictenazmiers) 



By Henry W. Henshaw 



Length, about 7^2 inches. Its size, olive-green upper piirts and bright yellow 

 throat, breast, and upper belly distinguish this bird at a glance. 



Range: Breeds from British Columbia, Montana, Wisconsin, Ontario and 

 southern X'ew England south to the Gulf States and Mexico ; winters from Mexico 

 to Costa Rica. 



The chat is one of our largest and most notable warblers. It is a frequenter 

 of brushy thickets and swampy new growth and, while not averse to showing 

 itself, relies more upon its voice to announce its presence than upon its green and 

 yeilow plumage. Not infrequently the chat sings during the night. The song, 

 for song we must call it, is an odd jumble of chucks and whistles which is likely 

 to bring to mind the quip current in the West, "Don't shoot the musician ; he is 

 doing his best;" in this same charitable spirit we must accept the song of the 

 chat at the bird's own valuation, which, we may be sure, is not low. Its nest is 

 a rather bulky structure of grasses, leaves and strips of bark and is often so 

 conspicuously placed in a low bush as to cause one to wonder how it ever escapes 

 the notice of marauders fond of birds' eggs and nestlings. 



The chat does no harm to agricultural interests but, on the contrary, like most 

 of the warbler family, lives largely on insects, and among them are many w^eevils. 

 including the alfalfa weevil, and the bool weevil, so destructive to cotton. 



This is a most singular bird. In its voice and manners it differs from most 

 other birds with which I am acquainted, and has considerable claims to originality 

 of character. It arrives about the first w^eek in May and returns to the south 

 again as soon as its young are ready for the journey, which is usually about the 

 middle of August, its term of residence here being scarcely four months. The 

 males generally arrive several days before the females, a circumstance common 

 with many other of our birds of passage. 



^^'hen he has once taken up his residence in a favorite situation, which is 

 almost always in close thickets of hazel, brambles, vines, and thick underwood, 

 he becomes very jealous of his possessions. He seems offended at the least 

 intrusion, scolding every passer-by in a great variety of odd and uncouth mono- 

 syllables which it is difficult to describe, but which may be readily imitated so as 

 to deceive the bird himself and draw him after you for a quarter of a mile at a 

 time. I have sometimes amused myself in doing this, and frequently without 

 once seeing the bird. On these occasions his responses are constant and rapid, 

 strongly expressive of anger and anxiety ; and while the Chat itself remains 

 unseen, the voice shifts from place to place among the bushes as if it proceeded 

 from a spirit. First are heard a repetition of short notes, resembling the whistling 

 of the wings of a duck or teal, beginning loud and rapid and falling lower and 

 lower till they end in detached notes. Then a succession of other notes, some- 



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