268 LONG-TAILED CHAT 



remind the observer of drawings we sometimes see from the brushes 

 of Japanese artists. He holds his hovering position for an instant then 

 the music gradually dies away and as he sinks toward the ground, he 

 regains his natural poise, and seeks another perch like that from which 

 he started." (Taverner^.) 



Nesting Site. — The nest is placed in a small bush or sapling, or 

 among briers at from one to five, but, usually, about three feet from 

 the ground. 



Nest. — Nests from near New York are coarse, bulky but rather 

 compact structures made chiefly of dried grasses, leaves, grapevine 

 and inner bark, and all lined chiefly with fine grasses. The use of 

 coarse grasses exteriorly and the absence of rootlets in the lining appear 

 to be characteristic. 



Eggs. — 3 to 5, usually 4, very rarely 5. Ground color a 

 clear white sometimes tinged with pinkish; again a greenish shade 

 is noticeable ; the majority of specimens show a high gloss ; the mark- 

 ings consist, for the most part, of specks and spots, but often good 

 sized blotches occur, these are either well distributed over the entire 

 egg or clouded together at the large end usually in form of a wreath, 

 they are of varying shades of reddish, cinnamon rufous and chestnut 

 with under shell spots of lavender, in most specimens the markings 

 are very bold and v^ell defined. Size; average, .88x.68; extremes, 

 .96X.71, .74X.60, .86X.72, .76X.68. (Figs. 110-112.) 



Nesting Dates. — Chatham Co., Ga., May 7; Augusta, Ga., June 

 23 (C. IV. C.) ; Iredell Co., N. C, May 17 (C. JV. C.) ; West Chester, 

 Pa., May 23-June 6 (Jackson) ; Waynesburg, Pa., May lo-july 2 

 (Jacobs) ; New York City, May 23-July 6 (F. M. C.) ; New Haven, 

 Conn., May 22- July 7 (Bishop) ; Oberlin, O., May 15-July 15 (Jones) ; 

 Monroe Co., Mich., May 26, Trombly (Barrozvs). 



Biographical References 

 (i) Wm. Brewster, Observations on the Birds of Ritchie County, West 

 Virginia, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist., N. Y., XI, 1875, I37- (2) E. P. Bicknell, A 

 Study of the Singing of Our Birds, Auk, I, 1884, 216. (3) P. A. Taverner, 

 The Yellow-breasted Chat; a Character Sketch, Bird-Lore, VIII, 1906, 131. 



Long-tailed Chat 



ICTERIA VIRENS LONGICAUDA (Lawrence) 



SuhspeciHc Characters. — Similar to Icteria virens virens but wings and 

 tail longer, bill more slender, upperparts grayer, yellow averaging deeper, white 

 stripe at side of throat more extended, sometimes passing behind auriculars 

 Wing, 3.10; tail, 3.40; bill, .57. 



General Distribution. — Western United States. 



