YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 149 



but a second or even a third brood are some- 

 times raised. 



YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 



This is the largest and by far the noisiest of 

 the Warblers. Except for his green and olive 

 coloring he does not seem like a Warbler at all. 

 His beak and legs are thick and stout, colored 

 lead-gray; his voice is rather loud, and sounds as 

 if he were scolding or harshly criticising some- 

 body or something in the woods. "Woit? cheep 

 — chuck; whee-whee-whee-whee — " and so on 

 with any kind of whistle or squawk, never by 

 any chance achieving a musical tone, but in such 

 variety that he is sometimes given the name of 

 Polyglot Chat and credited with imitation and 

 ventriloquism. He must certainly enjoy these 

 singular vocal efforts, since he often wakes up 

 oq April and May nights to repeat them. 



His haunts are brushy hillsides and copses, or 

 thickets in partial clearings; but he occasionally 

 comes into an open space to perform a weird 

 clown's dance in the air, twitching and jerking 

 and somersaulting with dangling legs. But if he 

 catches you watching him he disappears at once 

 in the underbrush, and scolds nervously as long 

 as you remain in sight. 



