YELLOW-BEEASTED CHAT. 



ICTERIA VIEIDIS. 



AS one approaches the haunts of the yellow-hreasted 

 chat, the old rule for children is reversed, — he is 

 everywhere heard, nowhere seen. Seek him ever so slyly 

 where the ear has just detected him, instantly you hear 

 him elsewhere ; and this with no sign of a flight. The 

 chat revels in eccentricities. Some tones of his loud 

 voice are musical, others are harsh ; and he delights in 

 uttering the two kinds in the same breath, occasionally 

 slipping in the notes of other birds and, on some au- 

 thorities, imitating those of quadrupeds. I have discov- 

 ered in his medleys snatches from the robin, cat-bird, 

 oriole, kingfisher, and brown thrasher. Wilson refers to 

 his "great variety of odd and uncouth monosyllables." 

 I have detected three such, " char," " quirp," and " whir ; " 

 and they were given with distinctness. 



The male birds, generally preceding the females in their 

 migrations, locate and at once begin a series of vocal 

 and gymnastic exercises. A marked example of these 

 performances is a jerky flight straight upward perhaps 

 fifty feet, and a descent in the same fussy fashion. The 

 favorite time is just before dusk ; but if there be a moon, 

 a carousal of some sort goes on all night, — the evident 



