OF THE UNITED STATES 341 



or else Catesby did not collect as well as he wrote; and no one 

 has ever questioned the influence of Mark Catesby's writings. 

 To those accustomed, however, to the collection of all kinds of 

 birds, difficulty is experienced in the case of the present species 

 only from the habit it has of keeping concealed, and that its 

 notes are frequently ventriloquistic in character. Securing spec- 

 imens of them in plenty has never given me much trouble, either 

 during the vernal or autumnal migrations. Few, though, have 

 fallen to my gun, as to destroy the life of one of those splendid 

 fellows gives me quite as severe a pang and feeling of remorse as 

 it does to shoot a mockingbird. 



Wilson, in describing this species, has said that the Yellow- 

 breasted chat "is seven inches long, and nine inches in extent; 

 the whole upper parts are of a rich and deep olive green, except 

 the tips of the wings and interior vanes of the wing and tail 

 feathers, which are dusky brown; the whole throat and breast 

 are of a most brilliant yellow, which also lines the inside of the 

 wings and spreads on the sides immediately below ; the belly and 

 vent are white; the front [forehead] slate colored, or dull cin- 

 ereous; lores black; from the nostril a line of white extends to 

 the upper part of the eye, which it nearly encircles; another 

 spot of white is placed at the base of the lower mandible; the bill 

 is strong, slightly curved, sharply ridged on top, compressed, 

 overhanging a little at the tip, not notched, pointed, and alto- 

 gether black; . . . legs and feet light blue, hind claw rather 

 the strongest, the two exterior toes united to the second joint." 



Very little difference distinguishes the sexes, and the above 

 description is accurate for a number of specimens of this species 

 I have in my private collections. When you catch a glimpse of 

 one of the birds in the thicket, you are at once struck by the mar- 

 velous brilliancy of the yellow of its breast; and if the specimen 

 be secured, this is even enhanced by a closer examination. It is 

 surely a rich, pure, and gorgeous shade of that color, verging as 

 it does upon a clear orange in tone. 



In the neighborhood of Washington the male chats begin to 

 arrive from the south about the last part of April, the females 

 following in a few days. They depart very early, and it is a rare 

 thing to see one after the first week in September. I remember 

 that in southern New England they used to come early in May, 

 and leave again in August, thus making their stay only a few 

 months. 



