172 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, 
bird will be found in the nest, Yellow-throats being one 
of the birds most frequently ‘chosen by the Cowbird as 
foster- -parents. 
The Chat is the largest of the Warblers, and so siti 
them, or any other birds, in disposition that if classifica- 
Yellow-breastedChat, tion were based on character, the Chat 
Icteria virens, | Would surely be placed in a family by 
Plate LAY. itself. The Chat’s peculiarities are 
numerous, but are most evident in his song. Many 
times I have sat, note-book and pencil in hand, trying to 
express in words the song of a Chat singing in a neigh- 
boring thicket, but I have | never succeeded in putting on 
paper anything which would convey an adequate idea of 
the bird’s remarkable vocal performances. Of others 
who have attempted the same task, I think Mr. Bur- 
roughs comes nearest to interpreting the bird’s strange 
medley. He says: “Now he barks like a puppy, then 
quacks like a Duck, then rattles. like a Kingfisher, then 
squalls like a fox, then caws like a Crow, then mews like 
a cat... . C-r-r-r-r-r—whrr—that’s, it—chee—quack, 
cluck, yit-yit-yit—now hit it—tr-r-r-r—when—caw—caw 
—cut, cut—tea-boy—who, who—mew, mew.” You may 
be pardoned for doubting that a bird can produce so 
strange a series of noises, but if you will go to the Chat’s 
haunts in thickety openings in the woods, or other bushy 
places, and let him speak for himself, you will admit that 
our alphabet can not do him justice. To hear the Chat is 
one thing, to see him quite another. But he will repay 
study, and if you will conceal yourself near his home you 
may see him deliver part of his repertoire while on the — 
wing, with legs dangling, wings and tail flapping, and his 
whole appearance suggesting that of a bird who has had 
an unfortunate encounter with a charge of shot. 
But if the Chat’s song is surprising when heard dur- 
ing the day, imagine the effect it creates at night when 
