380 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



GENUS ICTERIA YIEILLOT. 

 ICTERIA VIRENS (LINN.). 



288. Yellow-breasted Chat (683) 



Bright olive-green ; below, golden-yellow ; belly, abruptly white ; lore, 

 black, isolating the white under eyelid from a white superciliary line above and 

 a short maxillary line below ; wings and tail, unmarked, glossed with olive ; bill 

 and feet, blue-black. Female and young: Similar, colors less bright. Length, 

 7-7^ ; wing, about 3 ; tail, about 3|. 



HAB. Eastern United States to the Plains, north to Ontario and Southern 

 New England, south in winter to Eastern Mexico and Guatemala. 



Nest, in a thicket, in the upright fork of a sapling, three to six feet from 

 the ground ; composed of leaves, strips of grape vine bark and grass, lined with 

 fine withered grass and fibre. 



Eggs, three or four, very smooth, white, spotted and blotched with several 

 shades of reddish-brown, heaviest toward the larger end. 



Bird collecting is attended with all the excitement of other 

 speculations. The very uncertainty, as to the amount of success 

 attainable, tends to increase the feeling. 



Laying aside accidents by gun, boat or buggy, much time and 

 labor are sometimes expended with very slim results, while on the 

 other hand the prizes are often obtained quite unexpectedly. On 

 the 16th of May, 1884, I went for a short excursion to the woods, 

 impressed with the idea that I had lately spent too much time 

 collecting common species which I already had, and that, by a more 

 careful inspection of the birds I came across, I should have a better 

 chance of finding something new. I observed quite a number that 

 afternoon, but came back without a specimen of any kind, and, as it- 

 began to rain, I got home thoroughly damped, and unhitched my 

 horse, firm in the belief that the subject was unworthy the attention 

 I was giving to it. Just then I noticed an olive-backed bird lying 

 dead on the ground close by, and on picking it up found it to be the 

 decaying body of a Yellow-breasted Chat, that had probably been 

 killed by flying against the telegraph wire which crossed above the 

 spot where it was found. It had evidently been there for two or 

 three days, and I must have passed close to it several times daily. 

 It was too far gone for preservation, so I had to console myself with 

 its being the first record of the species in Canada. A week or so 

 afterwards, when visiting Mr. Dickson, who is station-master on 

 the G. T. R. at Waterdown, he pointed out to me an old, unused 

 mill-race, grown up with briars and brambles, where the day before 



