Yellow- Bi' east ed Chat. 163 



YELLOW-BEEASTED CHAT. 



Surely if there is a sj^rite among the birds, it is the 

 yellow-breasted chat! For years he tantalized me by 

 whistling at me from his bushy tangle, and then hiding 

 elsewhere in his covert before my eager eyes could obtain 

 even a glimj^se of him. He certainly is the " artful 

 dodger" among the feathered kind, and often the in- 

 quisitive visitor to his haunts has been led a merry chase 

 by this dancing sprite of the tangle. There are many 

 birds that are retiring and secretive in their favorite re- 

 sorts, but the yellow-breasted chat is usually noisy and 

 loquacious, and hence apparently easy to discover. When 

 we seek him, however, we find that where he seems to be 

 he is not present. Indeed, he is likely to be heard in 

 quite another place, just when we think we must surely 

 surprise him this time. Penetrating a clump of briers to 

 rout him from his covert, we find that he is already gone, 

 and even beginning his whistle in another place; and fol- 

 lowing to catch sight of the artful whistler, we hear him 

 in the former stronghold, composedly whistling and cack- 

 ling and calling. Thus I learned to know the chat, recog- 

 nizing his peculiar voice and some of his varied calls be- 

 fore I saw his handsome form; but at length I became 

 more successful in my efforts to learn the queer ways and 

 eccentric behavior of this wildwood harlequin, and often 

 saw him at his best. 



My first glimpse of the chat was obtained among the 

 tangled weeds and bushes skirting the little stream along 

 which I so frequently rambled. I had reached a small 

 bend of the creek inclosing a little peninsula thickly 

 grown with bushes, from whose weedy coverts I heard the 

 clear calls of the Maryland yellow-throat, the chants of 

 the song sparrow, the loud whistling of the cardinal, and 

 among them a new voice, which sounded to me like the 

 whistle of a schoolboy as a signal to his mates, except in 

 its monotone or lack of inflection. It caught my ear on 

 the instant, and I was soon pressing forward to find the 

 restless whistler, when his call arose farther ahead; and 

 now he followed his whistling by a strange cackling, very 



