WARBLERS 



561 



being around in the vicinity ready to utter his protests if an 

 intruder appears. I have never however known the male to 

 help in building the nest, though he is near to the female most 

 of the time she is working or gathering material, neither have 

 I ever caught the male incubating. He works faithfully how- 

 ever in feeding the young. 



Nest building requires a week to ten days and an egg is 

 laid each day until the set of three to five eggs is completed. 

 Incubation requires twelve days, occasionally slightly longer in 

 cold, wet weather. The young leave the nest in fourteen to 

 fifteen days. 



The food consists largely of beetles, grubs, larvae, the 

 smooth green larvae of various Satyrid butterflies, flies, ants, 

 and in general the various sorts of small insects found in the 

 haunts of these birds. 



Genus ICTERIA Vieillot. 



683. Icteria virens (Linn.). Yellow-breasted Chat. 



Plumage of adult male : above olive green ; while line from eye to bill, 

 another on side of throat, and also eye ring same color ; sides washed with 

 olive brown ; throat, breast and upper belly bright yellow ; lower belly white. 

 Plumage of adult female : in general very similar to male, but lores gener- 

 ally dusky and yellow lower parts paler. Immature plumage : grayish olive 

 brown above, the wings and tail edged with dull olive green ; below ashy 

 gray, washed with olive gray on sides ; otherwise quite similar. Wing 3.00 ; 

 tail 3.02. 



Geog. Dist. — Breeding from the southern portions of New England, New 

 York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and South Dakota, southward to eastern Texas, 

 east to the Atlantic coast ; wintering along the coast and in the lower por- 

 tions of Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, Chiapas and from Yucatan over Guate- 

 mala, chiefly below 4,000 feet elevation. 



County Records. — Cumberland; a male was taken at North Bridgton, June 

 6, 1880, by J. C. Mead, (L. B. Me. p. 120) ; the mangled remains of a small 

 bird found on the lawn of Mrs. William Senter of Portland in the autumn of 

 1893 were shown me and proved to be the relics of a Yellow-breasted Chat, 

 (Brown, Auk 11, p. 331). York ; a specimen was taken at Eliot, (Smith, L. B. 

 Me., F. & S.). 



This species is a mere straggler to the State and I have 



never met with it in life, either here or elsewhere. Other 



