YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 549 



683 a. LONG-TAILED CHAT. — Icteria virens longicatida. 



Family : The Wood Warblers. 



Length: 7.00-8.00. 



AtlMs; Upper parts olive-graj' ; superciliary, eye-ring, and malar stripe 



white ; lores and line under eye deep black ; throat and breast bright 



yellow ; belly and under tail-coverts white. 

 Young : Upper parts plain dull olive-gray ; lores gray ; throat whitish ; 



chest, sides, and flanks grayish ; rest of under parts white. 

 Geographical DistribiUion : Western United States, east to Great Plains ; 



south into Mexico. 

 California Breeding Range : Chiefly in upper Sonoran zone, west of the 



Sierra Nevada. 

 Breeding Season : May. 

 Nest : Of dry leaves, grasses, and strips of bark ; lined 



with finer grasses ; placed in thickets and brambles 



of low undergrowth, from 2 to 5 feet above the 



ground. 

 Sggs : 3 or 4 ; glossy white or pinkish, 



speckled and spotted with shades 



of brown, which are heaviest at the 



larger end. Size 0.92 X 0.70. 



" Is the odd jumble of 

 whistle, chucks, and caws ut- 

 tered by one bird in that 

 copse yonder, or by half a 

 dozen birds in as many places ? 

 Approach cautiously and per- 

 haps you may see him in the 

 air, — a bunch of feathers 

 twitched downward by queer, 

 jerky notes which animate it. 



One might suppose so peculiar 



,j 683 a. Long-tailed Chat. 



a performance would occupy 



. . , , " Where lie whittled and sang 



his entire attention, but never- /rom dawn untu dark." 



