THE PERCHING BIRDS. 65 



convinced of this, and it is an open question if some 

 other birds do not also " throw their voice" with the 

 intention to deceive. When the chat is not hovering, 

 he sticks pretty close to the underbrush in which is 

 placed the nest, and here and on the ground he 

 feeds. One chat, or pair of them, that I closely 

 watched during an entire season, did not appear ever 

 to wander more than fifty yards from the nest, and I 

 am puzzled to think how a sufficient supply of food 

 could have been obtained. As insects are depended 

 upon, they apparently only had those that wandered 

 within the precincts of their summer home, and I 

 never saw them in my near-by berry-patches. 



The chat is a night singer. I have heard them as 

 late as midnight, when the moon was full, in June, 

 and as early as 3.30 A.M. the next morning, when it 

 was rather cool and a decided fog covered the low- 

 lands. Being astir at all hours, can it be that they 

 wander a little more at such times and forage in areas 

 they do not visit in daylight ? 



Birds far removed from typical warblers and from 

 the chat, and yet belonging to the same great group, 

 are the " Accentors," " Water-thrushes," " Oven- 

 bird," and " Wagtails." There are but three species, 

 with a far western variety of one of them. The re- 

 semblance of one to the other is pretty close, and all 

 three are aquatic in habit, sand-piper-like in move- 

 ment, and good musicians. 



The " Oven-bird," so-called from the character of 

 its earth-built nest, is much the best known of the 

 three. It reaches the Middle States in April and 

 lingers well on into October, if we have a series of 



e 6* 



