Palm Chats 721 



tails, and a broader bill surrounded by conspicuous rictal bristles. They agree 

 with the Waxwings in having a long head crest and the soft, silky plumage, 

 which is of plain though often handsome colors, but they lack the wax-like 

 ornaments. They have much the same habits except that they perhaps 

 feed to a little greater extent on insects. They range from Central America 

 through much of Mexico, a single species, known as the Phainopepla or Crested 

 White-winged Flycatcher (Phainopepla miens), reaching into the southern por- 

 tions of the United States as far north as Utah and southern Colorado. In this 

 species the sexes are very different, the male being a uniform glossy blue-black 

 except for a conspicuous patch of white on the inner webs of the primaries, 

 while the female is plain brownish gray with certain of the feathers white-edged ; 

 the length is between seven and eight inches. This is a shy, active bird of the 

 arid regions, frequenting the mesquite thickets especially of the open country 

 and along the foot-hills, where they may be found in small parties or some- 

 times more abundantly. As they sit on the topmost branches they have the 

 habit of jerking the tail. They feed greedily and perhaps principally on the 

 berries of the mistletoe, choke-cherry, and certain grapes during the season, and 

 at other times largely on insects which they capture on the wing. The nest is a 

 rather loosely made structure of twigs, mosses, plant fibers, etc., placed in the 

 branches of a tree or large bush, usually between ten and twenty feet from the 

 ground, the location being a thicket or open woods generally not far from water. 

 The eggs, two or three in number, are light gray spotted with black. 



In Phainoptila melanoxantha of the high volcanoes of Costa Rica and Panama 

 the male is glossy black above with a band of olive-yellow across the rump and 

 ashy gray with yellow on the sides and flanks below, the female being dark 

 yellowish olive above set off by a black cap, and olive and yellow below. 



THE PALM CHATS 



(Family Dulidce) 



Allied to the Silky Flycatchers and Waxwings, but differing from them 

 in having much stronger bills and feet, a shorter tail, and harsher, firmer 

 plumage, is the little group embracing a single genus and two species 

 known as the Palm Chats (Dulus). In the principal species (D. dominicus), 

 which is confined to the island of Santo Domingo, the color is dark brown 

 washed with olive above and yellowish white broadly streaked with brown 

 below; it is nearly eight inches in length. This species, known locally 

 as the Palm Sparrow, is a very common bird, breeding in colonies in nearly 

 every grove of royal palms. According to Dr. Christy, the nests are some- 

 times very large, quite an armful of twigs interwoven into a compact mass 

 in the head of the palm or on the cluster of berries just below the head. In 

 this ball of sticks there are generally three or four nests, merely burrows into 

 the side of the mass, the end lined with finer twigs. Its habits are peculiar 

 in many ways, and with its powerful legs, feet, and bill it breaks off and 

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