SYLVICOLID^ — THE WARBLERS. 



307 



I. vireiis. Above olive-green ; beneath gamboge-yellow for the anterior half, 

 and white for the posterior. A white stripe over the eye. 



Length of tail, 3.30 inches. Hab. Eastern United States to the Plains ; in 

 winter through Eastern Mexico to Guatemala .... var. virens. 



Length of tail, 3.70 inches. Hah. Western United States from the Plains to 

 the Pacific ; Western Mexico in winter var. longicauda. 



Icteria virens, Baird. 



YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. 



Tardus virens, Linn. Syst. Nat. 10th ed. 1758, 171, no. 16 (based on (Enanthe amcricana, 

 jKctorc luteo, Yellow-breasted Chat, Catesby, Carol. I, tab. 50). Icteria virens, Baird, 

 Rev. Am. B. 1864, 228. ' Mtiscicapa viridis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. \, 1788, 936. Icteria 

 viridis, BoN. ; AuD. Orn. Biog. H, pi. cxxxvii. — Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 248. 

 Icteria dumecola, Vieill. Pi'pra folyglotta, WiLS. 'i Icteria velasquezi, Bon. P. Z. S. 

 1837, 117 (Mexico). —ScLATER & Salv. Ibis, 1, 1859, 12 (Guatemala). 



Localities quoted : Costa Rica, Caban. Orizaba (wijiter). Sum. Yucatan, Lawr. 



Sp. Char. Third and fourth quills longest ; second and fifth little shorter ; first nearly equal 

 to the sixth. Tail graduated. Upper parts uniform olive-green ; under parts, including 

 the inside of wing, gamboge-yellow as far as nearly half-way from the point of the bill to 

 the tip of the tail ; rest of under parts white, tinged with brown on the .sides ; the outer 

 side of the tibite plumbeous ; a slight tinge of orange across the breast. Forehead and 

 sides of the head ash, the lores and region below the eye blackish. A white stripe from 

 the nostrils over the eye and involving the upper eyelid ; a patch on the lower lid, and a 

 short stripe from the side of the lower mandible, and running to a point opposite the hinder 

 border of the eye, Avhite. Bill black; feet brown. Female like the male, but smaller; 

 the markings indistinct ; the lower mandible not pure black. Length, 7.40 ; wing, 3.25 ; 

 tail, 3.30. Nest in thickets, near the ground. Eggs white, spotted with reddish. 



Hab. Eastern United States, west to Arkansas; rare north of Pennsylvania; south to 

 Eastern Mexico and Guatemala. Not noticed in West Indies. 



Both sexes in winter apparently have the 

 base of lower mandible light-colored, the 

 olive more brown, the sides and crissnm 

 with a strong ochraceous tinge. It is this 

 plumage that has been recognized as /. ve- 

 lasquezi. 



Habits. The Yellow-breasted Chat is 

 found throughout the Eastern United States, 

 from Massachusetts to Florida, and as far to 

 the west as Fort Riley and Eastern Kansas. 

 Mr. Say met with it among the Rocky ]\Ioun- 

 tains as far north as the sources of the Arkan- 

 sas. It is not very rare in Massachusetts, but 



a few breed in that State as far north as Lynn. It has been found in jVIexico 

 and Guatemala, but not, so far as I am aware, in the West Indies. 



Probably no one of our birds has more distinctly marked or greater pecu- 



Icteria virens. 



