394 DIVISION I. VEKTEBRAL ANIMALS. — CLASS IL AVES. 



Tiie Ycllcjw-ljrcastcd Cliat (Irferia n'ridis) is also placcil in tliis group ; 

 abounding in the soutli and west, Massacliusctts seems to be the nortiicni 

 limit of tiiis bird's haljitat in New England ; and even in this state it is a 

 very rare species. NuttalTs description of its habits is as follows : 



" Tlie males, as in many other migrating birds, who are not continually 

 p;iired, arrive several days before the females. As soon as our bird has 

 chosen his retreat, wiiich is commonly in some thorny or viny thicket, where 

 he can obtain concealment, he becomes jealous of his assumed ri"hts, and 

 resents the least intrusion, scolding all who approach in a variety of odd and 

 uncouth tones, very difficult to describe or imitate, except by a whistling ; 

 in which case the bird may lie made to apiiroach, but sehlom within sight. 

 His responses on such occasions are constant and rapid, expressive of anr'-er 

 and anxiety ; and, still unseen, his voice shifts from place to place amidst 

 the thicket, like tiic haunting of a fairy. Some of these notes resemble the 

 whistling of the wings of a flying duck, at fii-st loud ami rapid, then sinking 

 till they seem to end in single notes. A succession of other tones are now 

 heard, some like the barking of young puppies, with a variety of hollow, 

 guttural, uncommon sounds, frequently repeated, and terminated occasion- 

 ally by something like the mewing of a cat, but hoarser, — a tone, to which 

 all our vireos, particularly the young, have frc(pient recurrence. All these 

 notes are uttered with vehemence, and with such strange and various modu- 

 lations as to appear near or distant, like the manwuvres of ventriloquism. 

 In mild weather also, when the moon shines, this gabbling, with exuberance 

 of life and emotion, is heard nearly throughout the night, as if the performer 

 were disjiuting with the echoes of his own voice. 



" Abtiut the middle of May, soon after their arrival, the ictcrias begin to 

 build, fixing the nest connuonly in a l)ramb!e-bush, in an interlaced thicket, 

 a vine, or small cedar, four or five feet from tlie groiuid. The outside is 

 usually composed of dry leaves, or thin strips of grape-vine bark, and with 

 root fibres, and dry, slender blades of grass. The eggs are about four, pale 

 flesh-colored, spotted all over with brown or dull red. The young are 

 hatched in the short period of twelve days, and leave the nest about the 

 second week in June." 



The eggs are of the average dimensions of .70 by .fiO inch. 



The food of this l)ird consists of those small insects and spiders that are 

 found in the thick shrubbery of brier jiatches, and on the ground among the 

 fallen leaves. It also occasionally captures flying insects in the manner of 

 the vireos ; and this fact has caused it, more than its jjcculiarities of foi'm, 

 to be classed by some authors with those birds. 



Tlie Oven-bird, or Golden-crowned Thrusli (S'ei'uras aarocapillu-^) is 

 also placed in this family. This beautiful and well-known bird is a common 



