The Yellow-breasted Chat and the Cowbird 



177 



ered, and there is no way to tell to what extent the Chat is imposed on by the 

 Cowbird. However, it does not appear to me that the Chat is as 'touchy' about 

 having its nest discovered as some writers believe. 



Birdcraft Sanctuary is visited by several thousand people each year, and 

 among its summer bird residents, for the past four years, has been a jmir of 

 Chats which nest among the tangles of bush and briar. Three of their nests 

 were built beside a much-used trail, although there were plenty of secluded and 

 equally desirable places without a bird tenant. 



One Chat became so tame she would not leave her nest, even when the warden 

 was mowing the trail with a noisy lawn mower, only a few feet away from her. 

 Another nest, on the way to the 'Overlook,' was in a tangle of cat briars and so 

 near the trail that it could easily be touched from it, but the bird frequentl\- 

 remained on the nest as the warden and myself stood in the trail in plain sight. 

 I photographed this nest and eggs and it did not disturb its owner, save for the 

 time we kept her from her eggs. 



During three years the Chats raised their brood, but the fourth year the nest 

 was destroyed, and, as the Chat's song ended at the same time, we have 

 always believed that a certain bird of prey caught her, as it had been known 

 to catch other breeding birds. 



There is an air of peace and quietness brooding over Birdcraft's smiling 

 acres, and much as we hope t*hat the Chats have sensed it and departed from 

 the ways of their kind, we believe, rather, that there is variation in the habits 

 of the Chat just as there is in those of other l)irds. 



A TI AT AXn THREK SCREECH 0\n.S 

 rh..ti.Kraijlie(i by Dr. J. B. Pardoe, Bound Brook, \. J. 



