YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 69 



Yellow-breasted Chat: Icteria wrens. 



Length about 7^2 inches; largest of his family. 



Upper . parts bright olive-green; black and white mark- 

 ings in front of and around eyes; no wing-bars. 



Throat and breast bright yellow; belly white. 



Resident (common) from May I to September; winters 

 in Central America. 



The handsome Chat is a mocker and a ventrilo- 

 quist, and the first time you hear his astonishing per- 

 formance, you wonder if you are listening to one bird 

 or half a dozen; and where is the singer? Is he in 

 this tree or that, over your head, or across the 

 stream? As Mr. Burroughs 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 chcc quack, cluck, yit-yit-yit now hit it 

 tr-r-r when caw caw 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 open- 

 ings in the woods, or other bushy places, and let him 

 speak for himself, you will admit that our alphabet 

 cannot 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 flap- 

 ping, 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 during the day, imagine the effect it cre- 

 ates at night when he has the stage to himself, for he 

 is one of our few birds who sing regularly and freely 

 during the night, moonlit nights being most often 

 selected." 



