BIRDS OF NEW YORK 457 



sometimes heard as late as August 14, the last perfect song, however, 

 being heard between July 15 and August i; but the chitt or chat note can 

 be heard as long as the bird is present. The wonderful performances 

 of the Chat during his singing ecstacy have been well described by Taverner 

 (Bird Lore 8, 131): "His love song is a woodland idyll and makes up 

 for much of his shortcomings. From some elevated perch from which 

 he can survey the surrounding waste for a considerable distance he flings 

 himself into the air, straight up he goes on fluttering wings — legs dangling, 

 head raised, his whole being tense and spasmodic with ecstacy. As he 

 rises he pours forth a flood of musical gurgles and whistles that drop from 

 him in silvery cascades to the ground, like sounds of fairy chimes. As 

 he reaches the apex of his flight, his wings redouble .their beatings, working 

 straight up and down, while the legs hanging limply down remind the 

 observer of drawings we sometimes see from the brushes of Japanese artists. 

 He holds his hovering position for an instant, then the music gradually 

 dies away and he sinks toward the ground. He regains his natural poise 

 and seeks another perch like that from which he started." The nest of 

 the Chat is placed in the midst of some thicket or tangle of vines or briers 

 close to the ground, usually about 3 feet up. It is a rather bulky structure 

 composed of dead leaves, grasses, weed stalks, strips of bark, lined with 

 fine grasses. The eggs are from 3 to 5, usually 4 in number, pure white 

 in ground color, sometimes tinged with pink or greenish; usually rather 

 evenly spotted with reddish brown, chestnut and purplish lavender, rather 

 sharp and clearly outlined, but sometimes forming a wreath near the 

 larger end, the size averaging .92 by .72 inches. The nesting dates in 

 southeastern New York range from May 25 to June 13 ; in central New York 

 May 27 to June 14. 



