39 



2-13; culmen, -39; bill from nostril, -32; gape, '57; tarsus, '78 ; middle 

 toe, -53; its claw, '18. 



47. Icteria virens, (Zfnne.) YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. A com- 

 mon summer resident, breeding plentifully. Arrives before the middle 

 of May (24, 1873; 12, 1874; 1, 1875 [Frederic S. Osborn], 9 [Mearns] ; 

 3, 1876; 7, 1877; 7, 1878; 7, 1879), and spends the summer. 



The Yellow-breasted Chat is sure to attract attention by the singu- 

 larity of its habits and voice. Several pairs of Chats always nestle 

 in some bushy fields in the neighborhood of my house, where they 

 keep up an incessant clatter during the early part of the season. I 

 have sometimes heard it at intervals during the night. It is quite 

 shy, and by a judicious use of its remarkable ventriloquial powers can 

 generally managed to keep out of harm's way. Among other equally 

 ridiculous performances, it has the habit of flying up in the air, with 

 its legs dangling, then allowing itself to drop nearly to the ground. 

 Its eggs, four in number sometimes five are deposited about the 

 first of June (found two nests June 1st and 3rd, 1873, each contain- 

 ing four eggs), in a nest built in a thicket. Mr. Peter de Nottbeck 

 showed me specimens shot as far up the Hudson as Fishkill Landing, 

 where he has also procured specimens of the Hooded Warbler (Myio- 

 dioctes mitratus) and Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitherus vermivorus). 



Dimensions. Average measurements of nine specimens : length, 

 7-44; stretch, 9-98; wing, 3-00; tail, 3'07; bill from nostril, -41 ; gape, 

 78; tarsus, 1-02; middle toe, -64; its claw, -24. 



