THE WESTERN CHAT. 207 



the wliite brow-stripe and tlie malar clash, offset by black and darker olive. 

 It is a warbler in color-pattern, a Yellow-throat done larger, Init waggish, 

 furtive, impudent, and resourceful beyond any other of his kind. 



The full song of the Chat is usually delivered from some elevation, a 

 solitary tree rearing itself above dense cover. The music almost defies 

 analysis, for it is full of surprises, vocal somersaults, and whimsy turns. 

 Its cadence is ragtime, and its richest phrases are punctuated by flippant 

 jests and droll parentheses. Even in the tree-top the singer clings closely 

 to the protecting greenery, whence he pilches headlong into tlie thicket at 

 the slightest intimation of approach. 



The love song of the Chat, the so-called "dropping song," is one of the 

 choicest of avian comedies, for it is acted as well as sung. The jjerformer 

 flings liimself into mid-air, flutters upward for an instant with head upraised 

 and legs abjectly dangling, then slowly sinks on hovering wing, with tail 

 swinging up and down like a mad pump-handle. Punch, as Cupid, smitten 

 with the mortal sickness. And all this while the zany pours out a flood of 

 tumultuous and heart-rending song. He manages to recover as lie nears 

 the brush, and his fiancee evidently approves of this sort of buffoonery. 



The Chat is a skilled mimic. I have traced the notes of such diverse 

 species as Bullock Oriole, Slender-billed Nuthatch, and Magpie to his door. 

 Once, down on the Rio Grande, we rapped on a vine-covered cottonwood 

 stump to dislodge a Flicker that had been shrieking Klyak at us for some 

 minutes past, and we flushed a snickering Chat. 



The Western Chat, like the eastern bird, has small taste for architecture. 

 A careless mass of dead leaves and coarse grasses is assembled in a bush at 

 a height of three or four feet, and a lining of finer grasses, when present at 

 all, is so distinct as to permit of removal without injury to the bulk of the 

 structure. From three to five eggs are laid and so jealously guarded that 

 the birds are said to destroy the eggs once visited by man. So cautious are 

 the Chats that even after the young have hatched out, the}- take care not to 

 be seen in the vicinity of their nest, but a low, anxious chuck sometimes 

 escapes from the harassed mother in a neighboring thicket. 



Chats will follow suitable cover into most desolate places. On IJie 

 other hand they do not discriminate against civilization per sc. and the 

 Chats of Cannon 11 ill. in Spokane, are as grateful to the good sense of 

 its citizens as are the Catbirds and two score other resident species of song- 

 sters. They are, however. l)irds of the sunshine belt, and West-side records 

 are verv few. 



