320 WESTERN YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 



and deeper than a Thrasher's, and perhaps more compact than 

 either of these. Besides, you may know it by the eggs, which 

 are more globular, brilliantly white or pink-blushed, prettily 

 speckled all over with rich reddish-brown and some neutral-tint 

 spots, and measuring about nine-tenths of an inch long by two- 

 thirds in diameter the Catbird's eggs are emerald-green, while 

 the Thrasher's are elongated and speckled in a different way. 

 The eggs are commonly lour or five in number j the young are 

 said to hatch in eleven or twelve days, and to remain in the 

 nest only about as many more. Such a nest and eggs as I have 

 described may be found during the latter part of May and in 

 June, in the Middle districts ; somewhat earlier and at subse- 

 quent intervals during the rest of the summer, at least in the 

 more southerly regions the bird inhabits. In Pennsylvania, 

 and thence northward, one brood each season is the rule, 

 perhaps without exception. 



Notwithstanding its vivacity and ardor, the Chat seems 

 rather a delicately organized bird, susceptible to cold j and it 

 consequently leaves us rather early in the fall. As to its food, 

 we remark that it is insectivorous, like all of its family, but 

 that it feeds much upon small soft fruits, such as strawberries, 

 blackberries, and huckleberries. Several stomachs of the bird 

 which were examined by Mr. Gentry with reference to this 

 matter contained coleopterous insects of numerous kinds, 

 butterflies and moths with their larvae, spiders, ants, and other 

 insects. 



The Western Yellow-breasted Chat 



Icteria virens longicnnda 



a. virens 



Turdus virens, L. SN. i. 1758, 10th ed. 171, n. 16 (Catesby, i. 50). 



Icteria virens, Bd. Rev. AB. 1865, 228. Lawr. Ann. Lyo. N. Y. ix. 1868, 95 (Costa Rica). 

 Sumich. Mem. Bost, Soc. i 1869, 54 (Vera Cruz). v. Frantz. J. f. O. 1869, 294 (Costa 

 Rica). Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. T. ix. 1869, 200 (Yucatan). Turrib. B. E. Pa. 1869, 23; 

 Phila. ed. 16. ? Allen, Bull. MCZ. iii. 1872, 175. Goues, Key, 1872, 108, f. 48. Scott, 

 Pr. Bost Soc. xv. 1872, 222. Allen, Am. Nat vi. 1872, 265. Pur die, Am. Nat rii. 1873, 

 692, 693. Ridgw. Am. Nat vii. 1873, 198. Allen, Pr. Bost Soc. xvii. 1874, 52 (Dakota 

 and Montana). Ooues, BNW. 1874,77. B..B. <6 R. NAB. i. 1874, 307, fig. pi. 15, f. 12. 

 Brew. Pr. Bost Soc. xvii. 1875, 440. Gentry, Life-Hist i. 1876, 160. Minot, B. N. Engl. 

 1877, 132.-Merr. Tr. Conn. Acad. 1877, 24. 



Mnsclcapa viridis, Gm. SN. i. 1788, 936, n. 35 (Briss. and Gates.). Lath. 10. ii. 1790, 482, n. 

 58. -Turt. SN. i. 1806, 574. Steph. Gen. Zool. x. 1817, 356. 



Icteria viridis, Bp. Journ. Phila. Acad. iv. 1825, 252. Bp. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 1826, 69.- 

 Nutt. Man. i. 1832,299. And. OB. ii. 1834, 223; v. 1839, 433; pi. 137. Bp. PZS. 1837, 

 111 (Mexico). Bp. CGL. 1838, 25.-Pea6. Rep. Orn. Mass. 1839, 297 (occasional). Aud. 

 Syn. 1839, 163,-Nutt. Man. 2d ed. 1840, 339. Aud. BA. iv. 1842, 160, pi. 244. Gir. BLI. 

 1844, 162. Bp. CA. i. 1850, 331. Read, ibid. 397 (Ohio).? Woodh. Sitgr. Rep. Zufii, 



