NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 453 



top of 50 mm. The general appearance is almost identical with some song sparrows' 

 nests. When taken the eggs were cold and the birds absent, although the female 

 was seen when it was first found. In size the eggs are, larger than any other North 

 American Yellow-Throat measuring 19x15, 19.5x15, 19.5x14.5, 19.5x14.5 millimetres. 

 They are white, with shell spots and dots of lilac-gray and a few surface spots and 

 pencillings of black. There is but little variation from this pattern in the markings 

 of the other sets mentioned later. The Mexican boys were emphatically instructed 

 that whatever nests were found they were to be left until I could be shown to the 

 place. The same day that Mr. Brandegee found the set of, four, a bright little fellow 

 came to camp with the information that he had found a nest containing three eggs. 

 This was in quite similar situation to the other, but placed not more than half a 

 metre high. On March 27 the nest and eggs were taken, incubation having com- 

 menced. The nest is of the same material as used in the other, but is smaller ex- 

 teriorly. This set (No. 880, coll. W. E. B.) measures 19.5x15.5 mm. with each egg. 

 On March 28 I found a third nest in a heavy growth of 'cat-tails' near the outer edge 

 of the clump, and placed one and one-half metres high. This nest, like the others, 

 is composed of 'cat-tail' leaves, but is lined almost exclusively with black horse- 

 hairs, so few being used that they do not even hide the structural material. The 

 two eggs which were in the nest found were not taken until March 31, when they 

 contained small embryos. Although these two eggs constituted a set, I do not con- 

 sider it a normal one, but lacking in number from some cause unknown. The 

 diameter of each specimen is 19.5x15 mm. The female was sitting at the time I went 

 to take the nest, but quietly retreated amongst the rushes and made no demonstra- 

 tion, further than a coarse 'tchep' note. Two other nests, one containing two fresh 

 eggs and the other new, were shown to me by Mexican boys April 3; rny departure 

 from Gomondu on that day prevented me from securing more than these two ad- 

 ditional eggs, which measure 19.5x14.5 and 19.5x15 millimetres." 



682. 1. RIO GRANDE YELLOW-THROAT. Geothlypis poliocephala ralphi 

 Ridgw. Geog. Dist. — Lower Rio Grande Valley. 



I have no knowledge concerning the habits, nests or eggs of this race of the 

 Yellow-throat. They are, in all probability similar to O. trichas. 



683. YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. Icteria virens (Linn.) Geog. Dist.— East- 

 ern United States to the Great Plains, north to Ontario and Southern New England; 

 south in winter through Eastern Mexico to Northern Central America. 



The Yellow Breasted Chat may be found breeding in all suitable places through- 

 out Its range. It inhabits the thickets and brambles of low undergrowth, pref erredly 

 in the vicinity of a marsh, and the bird is oftener heard than seen. In the mating 

 season it is the noisiest bird in the woods, at which time it may be observed in its 

 wonderful aerial evolutions, uttering its medley of sputtering, cackling, whispering 

 and scolding notes, interluded with loud whistles. The nest is built in brier thickets 

 from two to five feet above the ground, and is composed of withered leaves, dry 

 grasses, strips of bark and lined with finer grasses. Large colonies of these birds 

 are often found nesting in a single locality. A strange nesting place of a pair of 

 Chats is recorded by Mr. Charles F. Batchelder as observed by Mr. C. W. Beckham 

 in Howard county, Maryland, where a pair built in a Wren box attached to one of 

 the pillars of a piazza which partially fronts a small ravine. The birds seemed 

 little disturbed by the occasional visits of members of the family. The eggs of the 

 Chat are three or four in number, usually four. They are white with a glossy 



