BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
271 
Plate XL, VI. 
ICTEEIA VIRENS, (Linn.) Baied. 
Yellow-breasted Chat. 
Probably no species possesses greater peculiarities of voice, manners 
and habits than the one we are about to notice. Somewhat terrestrial in 
life, frequenting tangled vines and brambles, it seemingly abhors publicity, 
and is best pleased when under concealment. When hid away in its 
almost inaccessible retreats it is hard to locate, and this difficulty is en- 
hanced by its wonderful powers of ventriloquism. It is a restless being, 
however, delighting in new sights and scenes, and though its movements 
are well-timed and silent, yet it does not always escajie detection. 
Its distribution throughout the United States is somewhat restricted, 
and its abundance in any given locality is uncertain. It ranges from 
Florida to Massachusetts, and as far to the west as Fort Riley and Eastern 
Kansas. Among the Rocky Mountains to the northward, it has been ob- 
served to reach the sources of the Arkansas. In Massachusetts, it is not 
uncommon, and a few are known to breed at Lynn. Farther northward, 
on the Atlantic seaboard, we have no mention of it. In Central New York 
it is a very rare summer visitor, and in Southern Illinois we learn that it 
breeds in common with the Maryland Yellow-throat, but diminishes in 
numbers to the north. Mexico and Guatemala claim it in their avi-fauna, 
but there are no records of its inhabiting any of the West India Islands. 
From their winter resorts, long after the Thrushes and Sparrows have 
reached their summer homes, these Chats, in the company of the vast 
.army of Warblers of which they are a part, take up their flight late in 
April, but it is not until the first week of May that they reach Pennsyl- 
