[514] BIRDS OF OREGON 



St. Johns, a suburb of Portland, on May 9, 1914; June 2.3, 192.7; and June 

 19, 192.7. Each nest contained four eggs. Braly took sets on May 6 and 

 2.6, 1931, near Portland. 



Long-tailed Chat: 



Icteria virens longicauda Lawrence 



DESCRIPTION. "Bill curved, stout, higher than broad at nostrils, without notch or 

 bristles; wings much rounded; tail long, feet stout; outside of tarsus almost without 

 scales; tarsus decidedly longer than middle toe with claw, its scutella indistinct or 

 obsolete on outer side. Adults: throat and breast vivid yellow; belly white; upper 

 parts olive gray; superciliary, orbital ring, and malar stripe, white; lores, and line 

 under eye black. Young: upper parts olive; lores gray instead of black; throat 

 whitish, chest, sides, and flanks grayish; rest of under parts white. Male: length 

 (skins) 6.Z6-7.2.8, wing x. 95-3. 31, tail 3.01-3.39, bill .53-. 59. Female: length 

 (skins) 6.38-6.97, wing 2.. 87-3. 15, tail z. 83-3. 13, bill .53-. 59." (Bailey) Nest: In 

 bushes, made of grass, leaves, and shredded bark and lined with grass. Eggs: 3 to 5, 

 white, spotted with gray and brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in low valleys from southern British Columbia, 

 Montana, and North Dakota south to Lower California and Mexico. Winters in 

 Mexico. In Oregon: Common summer resident and breeding species in tangled 

 thickets of stream bottoms throughout State, except coastal counties. 



THE WEIRD NOTES of this clown of the thickets are a familiar sound on 

 May mornings throughout Oregon. If you would become acquainted 

 with this maker of cat calls, whistles, and screeches, take an early May 

 morning pilgrimage to the thickest blackberry or willow tangle in the 

 vicinity and after rinding a comfortable seat wait for the birds to forget 

 that an intruder is there. If a Long-tailed Chat is present, he will soon 

 make himself known, vocally at least. The scolding and calling will 

 come at irregular intervals from the thicket where the bird is hopping 

 about in the tangle. Eventually he will work upward to a visible perch 

 and perchance take wing in the queer courting flight for which he is 

 famous. Upward he will go in narrow circles, flying with an odd, jerky 

 wing motion until at a height of perhaps a hundred feet he will pitch 

 back toward the sheltering thicket in an amazing series of aerial gyra- 

 tions. All through his eerie show the performer sings his own liquid 

 song or gives vent to some of the wide assortment of other calls at his 

 command. 



Although this chat is conspicuous, Oregon nesting records are rather 

 scarce. Bendire (1877) not only is to be credited with the first published 

 record for the State, but he also found the first nest near Camp Harney, 

 June 5, 1876. Jewett found two nests, one at Portland, June 17, 1908, 

 that contained three eggs and was recorded in our Birds of the Portland Area 

 (Jewett and Gabrielson 192.9), and one at Gold Hill, May 12., 1916 

 (Gabrielson 1931). In the manuscript records of the Biological Survey 

 we found mention of a nest found at Homestead, Baker County, June 14, 



