168 Sketches of Some Common Birch. 



these delirious calls and ludicrous motions of the male, for 

 they are commonly executed in the immediate vicinity of 

 his home. The female can be found on the nest in most 

 cases, ior she does not flit from her charge until the intru- 

 der is quite near it, when she reveals its location by diving 

 from the nest into the adjacent shrubbery. When thus 

 startled from her home she usually goes some distance, 

 but quickly returns by short flights, hopping through the 

 bushes and keeping concealed most of the time, though 

 venturing into the open spaces often enough to watch the 

 fate of her household. On such occasions I have not 

 heard either male or female utter any kind of scolding 

 note, though it seems natural that a bird with, the exten- 

 sive vocabulary possessed by the chat should have some 

 expression for its alarm and anger. 



The later days of the summer residence of the chat are 

 passed in silence among its favorite coverts. It skulks 

 more closely in the bushy thickets than before, and ap- 

 pears to have lost all of its varied musical oddities, rarely 

 rising as in former days above the summits of the copses 

 it frequents. Its food is found in the bushes where it 

 resorts, and it has little need to go beyond its desirable 

 retreats. Like most of the warblers, among which it is 

 grouped, it leaves its summer home early in September, 

 joining the first detachments of the vast army which 

 throngs the tropical regions through the winter. 



