THE YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. 



(Icteria virens.) 



Aloft in the sunny air he springs ; 



To his timid mate he calls ; 

 With dangling legs and fluttering wings, 

 On the tangled smilax falls ; 



He mutters, he shrieks — 



A hopeless cry; 

 You think that he seeks, 

 In peace to die ; 

 But pity him not : 'tis the ghostly chat, 

 An imp, if there is one, rest sure of that. 



— Charles C. Abbott, "Waste Land Wanderings,.' 



If from an ambush one is permitted 

 not only to watch the strange actions of 

 the Yellow-breasted Chat, but also to lis- 

 ten to its mixture of calls, whistles, 

 squawks, carols and scoldings — an "odd 

 jumble" — he will hardly believe that he 

 is watching and listening to one of the 

 wood warblers. But such is the case. In 

 structure the Chat is a warbler and truth- 

 fully belongs to that family, yet its song 

 is not a warble. Instead., the Chat pro- 

 duces the most peculiar medley of sounds 

 than can emanate from the throat of a 

 bird. The Chat is a "feathered oddity," 

 and in its actions and voice is only like 

 its fellow chats. Mr. Chapman has writ- 

 ten the following words regarding this 

 bird : "After an acquaintance of many 

 years I frankly confess that his true char- 

 acter is a mystery to me. \Yhile listen- 

 ing to his strange medley and watching 

 his peculiar actions, we are certainly jus- 

 tified in calling him eccentric, but that 

 there is method in his madness no one 

 who studies him closely can doubt." The 

 Chat is an aerial gymnast, but it per- 

 forms only when it seems satisfied that 

 no intruder is in the vicinity. One of its 

 acts, especially performed during the 

 nesting season, is to launch into the air 

 from its retreat, and, uttering a loud 

 note, reaching a height of several feet 

 from the ground, it holds its wings above 

 its back and with dangling legs allows 

 its body lo descend as it rose, by a 

 swinging and jerking motion, into the 



shrubbery from which it ascended. It is 

 the male which performs in this manner, 

 and as he exhibits fear and anger at the 

 time, it may be done for the purpose of 

 frightening a supposed enemy. If this 

 is the purpose of the bird, it is surely 

 a mistake, for the exhibition of anxiety 

 and boldness by a bird which is ordinar- 

 ily shy is quite a positive indication of 

 the presence of its nest. Mr. Keyser 

 says : "It is odd that these birds, shy and 

 nervous as they are, should go so far out 

 of their way to tell you that they have a 

 nest somewhere in the copse that you 

 mustn't touch, mustn't even look for. 

 While you are yet a quarter of a mile 

 away, they will utter their loud cries of 

 warning; and if you go to the thicket 

 where they are, you will be almost sure to 

 find their nest, so poorly have they 

 learned the lesson of discretion." The 

 male shows a strong attachment for his 

 mate and her nest. During the time she is 

 sitting upon the eggs, he seldom goes be- 

 yond the limits of the bushy area in 

 which his home is situated. In the pres- 

 ence of his mate he sings his best. There 

 he performs his clownish feats and turris 

 aerial somersaults, voicing, the while, his 

 eccentric medley. "Indeed, some of his 

 most varied performances are inspired by 

 the happiness he experiences in the little 

 home ensconced among the subjacent 

 branches." 



The Chats frequent the bushy under- 

 at the edges of forests 



growths 



large 



71 



