WOOD WARBLERS 427 



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) 6.26-7.28, wing 2.95-3.31, tail 3.01-3.39, bill .5S-.59. Female. 

 length (skins) 6.38-6.97, wing 2.87-3.15, tail 2.83-3.23, bill .53-.S9. 



Distribution. Transition and Upper Sonoran zones, from British 

 Columbia south to Lower California and northern Mexico, and from the 

 Plains to the Pacific coast ; breeds south to Valley of Mexico ; United States 

 birds mainly migrate to southern Mexico. 



Nest. In briery thickets, made largely of dry leaves, strips of grape- 

 vine bark, and grasses, lined with finer grasses. Eggs : 3 to 5, white or 

 pinkish, spotted with gray and shades of brown. 



Food. Beetles and other insects, and berries. 



The chat's coming in the spring is like the arrival of a brass band. 

 In Farmington, Utah, one May, when he appeared he fairly per- 

 vaded the village that is, his voice did his yellow-fronted person 

 was in sight just once, to my best knowledge. But as you went along 

 the streets he fairly shouted in your ears from inside dark thickets 

 behind fences. And if you appeared in front of the bush on which 

 he was singing, he would at once raise his voice from the next bush 

 behind ! And so he would lead you through bush and briar, skulk- 

 ing out of sight and crying as if consciously deriding your awkward 

 attempts at intrusion, So! ho! tut-tut-tut-tut-tut-tut-tut ! One of 

 his favorite amusements is to give a whistle, as if he were calling a 

 dog and meant to be obeyed. When not whistling, or scolding like 

 an oriole, calling like a cuckoo, or piping like a shrill-voiced rock 

 squirrel, he will bark like a dog. 



The chat is not only moved to mock his neighbors, but performs 

 in most remarkable manner in his own proper person in air. Mr. 

 Torrey gives a good description of chat antics. " I caught the fel- 

 low," he says, "in the midst of a brilliant display of his clownish 

 tricks, ridiculous, indescribable. At a little distance it is hard to 

 believe that he can be a bird, that dancing, shapeless thing, bal- 

 ancing itself in the air with dangling' legs, and prancing, swaying 

 motions." 



GENUS WILSONIA. 



General Characters. Bill not more than half as long as head, broad 

 and flattened at base ; rictal bristles distinct ; wings pointed, longer than 

 tail ; tarsus decidedly longer than middle toe with claw. 



KEY TO ADULT MALES. 



1. Throat with black necklace ; crown gray . . canadensis, p. 428. 

 1'. Throat without black necklace ; crown black. 



2. Upper parts brighter green, forehead often orange. Great Basin to 



Pacific pileolata, p. 428. 



2'. Upper parts duller green, forehead always yellow. From higher 

 Rocky Mountains northeast pusilla, p. 428. 



