1 68 



SYLVICOLID^E : AMERICAN WARBLERS. 



YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. 



ICTERIA VIRENS (Z.) Bd. 



Chars. Above, rich olive-green ; below, brilliant yellow, the belly 

 and vent abruptly white ; lores black, separating white supra- 

 ciliary and maxillary lines ; under eyelid white ; wings and tail 

 unmarked, glossed with the color of the back ; bill blue-black, 

 part of under mandible sometimes pale ; feet livid bluish. Female 

 and young quite similar, not so brightly colored. Largest of the 

 family : length, 7.00 to 7.50 ; extent, 9.00 or more ; wing and tail, 

 each, 3.00-3.25 ; bill, 0.52; tarsus, 1.12. 



This eccentric and assertive character is not dis- 

 played to full advantage in New England, where the 

 remarkable bird is neither abundant enough to be very 



well known, nor of any 

 wide distribution. It is 

 characteristic of the Caro- 

 linian Fauna, and hence 

 chiefly confined to por- 

 tions of Connecticut ; it 

 also occurs, however, in 

 Massachusetts, and an in- 

 stance of its presence in 

 New Hampshire has been noted. A nest with four 

 eggs was secured at North Conway in that State, 

 in 1877, as recorded by Dr. Brewer (Pr. Bost. Soc., 

 xix, 1879, P- 3 O 3) Mr. Allen reports the bird as a 

 rare summer resident in Massachusetts, and there are 

 several records of its breeding in the eastern part of 

 that State. In 1833, indeed, Prof. Emmons attrib- 

 uted it to Massachusetts, as an "occasional visitant;" 

 and up to 1873, at least four nests had been found in 



FIG. 39.- 



CHAT. 



