YELLOWTEEOATS 539 



Near Lagrange, on May 7, 1919, a pair was observed in the dense cover 

 of green and dried tules bordering a small pond ; the male was singing 

 at short intervals, while the female, glimpsed but once, was carrying nest 

 material. 



The birds observed about Mono Lake {occidenialis) in 1916, even as 

 late as the last of May, were not yet fully established for nesting. In the 

 fall of 1915 one individual was obtained, September 20, at the shore of 

 Mono Lake nearest Mono Craters. 



In the western part of the Yosemite region the Tule Yellowthroat lives 

 in close association with the Least Vireo, individuals of the two species 

 often being seen, in summer, working through the same clump of vegetation. 

 No other warbler of the lowlands lives so close to the ground. The Yellow- 

 throats rarely go even so far as 6 feet above the ground and their nesting 

 and foraging activities usually involve a vegetational stratum of only half 

 this depth. 



Long-tailed Chat. Icteria virens longicauda Lawrence 



Field characters. — Larger than Junco. Sexes alike. Tail about as long as body. 

 Upper surface plain greenish brown; throat and breast solidly clear yellow; belly 

 white ; eyelids and stripe over eye white. Active but not nervous. Often flies up above 

 vegetation to sing. Voice: Song of male a strikingly varied series of calls and whistles 

 uttered slowly in irregular sequence. 



Occurrence. — Common summer visitant along west base of Sierra Nevada, chiefly in 

 Lower Sonoran Zone. Eecorded at Snelling and Lagrange, less commonly at Pleasant 

 Valley, and sporadically at Smith Creek, six miles east of Coulterville. Observed once, 

 June 30, 1916, at Mono Lake Post Office, east of the mountains. Lives in willows and 

 shrubbery near water. Solitary or in pairs. 



The Long-tailed Chat is common in the thickets which line the margins 

 of the Merced and Tuolumne rivers, in the San Joaquin Valley, and some 

 of the birds penetrate into the foothills. A few were noted at the mouths 

 of the small canons which join the Merced River at Pleasant Valley, and 

 a pair or more were, in 1915, established along Smith Creek, east of 

 Coulterville. Snelling is a local center of abundance for the species ; as 

 many as 20 were recorded during an hour and a half in the bottom lands 

 there on May 29, 1915. Chats and Yellowthroats often live on common 

 ground, but the former, because of their size and actions as well as voice, 

 are much the more conspicuous of the two. 



The Long-tailed Chat is a talkative bird; its song is totally different 

 from that of any of the other warblers, recalling, rather, the mockingbird 

 and thrasher in its variety and lack of continuity. The bird utters calls, 

 whistles, and chuckling notes in endless combinations, and it sometimes 

 executes fair imitations of the notes of other species. We have heard the 



