278 BIEDS — SYLVICOLID^. 



house is over the creek, and he calls the dogs ; says that you have gone 

 to seed; go west and grow up with the country; that you are taking up 

 too much of his valuable time, that you must excuse him for a moment. 

 During all this time he remains invisible, or at most, his black eye and 

 mask, or golden breast, appear for a moment as he peers at you from the 

 tangled branches of the brambles, or flashes from branch to branch, 

 dancing an accompaniment to his fantastic notes. At the last, he fcud- 

 denly appears on the top of a bush not ten feet from you, makes a pro- 

 found bow, and with a derisive whit'k of his long tail, exposes his im- 

 maculate white crissum and dives again into the deepest thicket. You 

 take a long breath and wipe your face, and he returns to the assault from 

 the rear. Should you move on, he follows, and if you approach, he re- 

 tires, and, keeping at a respectful distance, he laughs defiance, shouts 

 mockery and taatalizing sarcasm. He is a fearful scold, and it is no 

 wonder the inside of his mouth is black. But this is when he knows he 

 has the advantage. Sometimes he may be surprised as he sings in the 

 upper branches of a tree. He then sits motionless, continuing his song 

 as if unaware of any intrusion upon his privacy, and so resonant and 

 varying are his notes, that they confuse the ear as to the spot from ^Vhich 

 they come, while his yellow breast so completely harmonizes with the 

 green leaves and sunlight, that he is with difficulty discovered. It is to 

 his rapid and sonorous notes, quick motions or perfect quiet, with har- 

 monious surroundings, that he owes the reputation for ventriloquism 

 which he has obtained; and it may be said of his reputation for mimicry, 

 that he has no need to borrow notes from any other bird, and does not 

 knowingly do so. 



Before the breeding season is over it becomes as silent as during the 

 spring migration, and leaves for the south as stealthily as it came. 



In this vicinity the Chats are very common, but of somewhat irregular 

 distribution, showing a decided preference, during the breeding season, 

 for upland thickets with a southern exposure They are more social 

 when breeding thap most birds. I have found four or five nests on a 

 single acre, in a favorite locality. Usually the eggs are all laid by June 

 10. The nest is placed in the bushes of a thicket or in the perpendicu- 

 lar fork of a sapling, from three to six feet from the ground. It is rather 

 large, but neatly constructed for the materials used, which are mainly 

 leaves, strips of grape-vine bark, and grass. In this vicinity every nest 

 has a few brownish-red tendrils of a creeping plant in the lining and 

 about the rim, apparently for ornament. The eggs are almost uni- 

 formly four, often nearly spherical, glossy white, with spots of reddish- 

 brown, usually pretty evenly distributed, but sometimes forming a ring 



