190 



OKDERS OF BIRDS— PERCHERS AND SINGERS 



times builds a floor over the unwelcome egg." 

 (Birdcraft, p. 95.) 



The Yellow-Breasted Chat^ is much larger 

 than the typical wood warblers, being 7J inches 

 long to their 5 or 5-\ inches. It has an olive-green 

 back and a sulphur-yellow breast and throat, 

 with a white line extending from its beak above 

 and around its eye. By these colors, and its 



RED-EYED VIKEO. 



erect tail,, it may easily be recognized. It is a 

 very pert and saucy bird, and much gi^'en to 

 frequenting the haunts of counti-y dwellers. 



The Chat is not a great singer. He has no 

 regular song, and the notes he utters are jerky, 

 erratic and elusive. Its voice has some peculiar 

 cjuality which renders this bird very difficult to 

 locate by sound alone. Many times I have been 

 completely misled by its call notes coming from 

 a thicket, and finally found the bird yards away 

 from the spot whence its go-as-}'ou-please voice 

 seemed to come. 



"A Chat courtship," says Mr. A. C. Webb, in 

 " Some Birds, and their Ways," " is a sight never 

 to be forgotten. In the spring, when birds begin 

 housekeeping, the male Chat charms himself 

 and his mate by some remarkable performances 

 in the air. Launching himself from the top of 

 some tall tree, he flutters from side to side, flirts 

 his tail, stops, stands on his head, dangles his 

 ^ Ic-ie'ria vi'rens. Length, 7.2.5 inches. 



legs as if they were broken, turns somersaults, 

 and makes a monkey of himself generally, as he 

 descends to the thicket below, where his mate 

 is perched among the briers. Sometimes he 

 starts from the low bushes and rises almost 

 straight up into the air until he is above the tree- 

 tops. He chatters and screams as he goes, telling 

 her to watch him now as he comes down, and see 

 if in all her life she ever saw a bird that could 

 do such wonderful feats. No doubt to her 

 eyes he is the picture of grace and elegance as he 

 performs on his flying trapeze, but to us his clown- 

 like antics seem ridiculous." 



The Chat of the East is represented in the far 

 West by a long-tailed variety, and between the 

 two their range covers nearly the whole of the 

 United States, British Columbia and Mexico. 



The American Redstart^ looks like a small, 

 pinkish-yellow understudy of the Baltimore 

 oriole, 5} inches long. Its colors and color- 

 pattern are very similar to those of our old friend 

 of the elm-trees, velvety black on the back and 

 head, reddish-orange on the sides and breast, 

 and white on the belly. The tail is orange and 

 black, and the colors are very prettily disposed. 



On the whole, this bird has (in my estimation) 

 the most beautiful color-pattern to be found in 

 all our long procession of warblers and ground- 

 thrushes. The female is so different in color it 

 is at first difficult to believe her of the same spe- 

 cies. Her bodj'-colors are brownish-olive above 

 with sides of pale yellow, and the head is gray 

 instead of black. 



This beautiful bird is to be looked for all over 

 North America from Labrador and Fort Simp- 

 son to northern South America. In the North 

 it arrives in May, and abides until September. 



The Water-Thrushes. — Beginners in bird- 

 study are warned to note the fact that in the 

 Warbler Family are several birds called " TFo^cr- 

 TJinishcn," which do not belong to the Thrush 

 Family. It is a pity that they have not been 

 distinguished by some other name. There are 

 two species, the Common Water-Thrush,' 

 and the Louisiana W^ater-Thrusli/ the first a 

 northern, the latter a southern bird. Both live 

 in the dark recesses of virgin forests, where clear 

 brooks gurgle over mossy stones, between fern- 



'' Se-toph'a-ga ru-ti-cil'la. Length, 5.50 inches. 

 ■' Se-i-u'rus no-ve-bo-ra-cen' sis. Length, 6 inches. 

 • S. mot-a-cil'la. 



