THE WARBLERS 57 



snatch a morsel, erecting his tail, wren fashion, and some- 

 times spreading it, peacock fashion; then away he goes 

 again. 



The Yellow-breasted Chat 



Length — 7.5 inches. A trifle more than an inch longer than 

 the English sparrow. 



Male and Female — ^Uniform olive-green above. Throat, 

 breast, and under side of wings bright, clear yellow. 

 Underneath white. Sides grayish. White line over the 

 eye, reaching to base of bill and forming partial eye- 

 ring. Also white line on sides of throat. Bill and feet 

 black. 



Range — ^North America, from Ontario to Central America 

 and westward to the plains. Most common in Middle 

 Atlantic states. 



Migrations — ^Early May. Late August or September. 

 Summer resident. 



"Now he barks like a puppy, then quacks like a duck, 

 then rattles like a kingfisher, then squalls like a fox, then 

 caws like a crow, then mews like a cat — C-r^-r-r-r-^hrr- 

 that's it — Chee-quack, cluck, yit-yit-yit-now — ^hit it — tr- 

 r-^-r-wheu-caw-caw-cut, cut-tea-hoy-who, who-mew, mew," 

 writes John Burroughs of this rollicking polyglot, the chat; 

 but^not even that close student of nature could set down on 

 paper all the multitude of queer sounds with which the 

 bird amuses himself. He might be mistaken for a dozen 

 different birds and animals in as many minutes. 



Only by creeping cautiously toward the roadside tangle, 

 where this "rollicking polyglot" is entertaining himself 

 and his mate, brooding over her speckled eggs in a bulky 



