IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCE 
201 
Yellow-Breasted Chat. The most distracting, uncertain bird in the whole 
tribe, the yellow-breasted chat seems to take almost fiendish delight in the be- 
wilderment caused bird lovers by his mocking, ventriloquous voice. The chat 
can imitate almost any bird as well as man’s whistle and voice. With us 
from May first to September first. 
The chat may be found usually along country roads, in small groves and 
about gardens and orchards. The nest is built of bark and twigs, lined with 
soft grasses and placed in briary, inaccessible bushes near the ground. 
American Redstart. This little, self-important warbler reminds one of a 
miniature bantam rooster when seen strutting about on the ground the first 
day of his arrival from the south in early May. 
When the nesting time comes, he retires to the quiet of the woods. Kirk- 
wood Glen, a few years ago, was a favorite resort for the redstart, but now we 
must go farther, to Walnut Creek or Pour Mile Creek or the wooded tracts off of 
Beaver Ave. and North Thirtieth Street. The nest is a carefully made structure 
of moss fibres and horsehair, set in a forked branch about twenty feet from 
the ground. 
Like many other warblers, the redstart leaves for Mexico and South America 
in September. 
Red-Eyed Vireo. This bird that always builds into its nest some cobwebs, 
and usually some scraps of hornets’ nests, is one whose song is seldom noticed 
until late in May, but from then on through July it is a constant singer. In 
our groves and lightly wooded tracts, the red-eyed vireos nest in comparative 
abundance throughout Polk county. The nest is one of the most beautiful and 
perfect we have. A cup-like, pensile nest in a slender fork of maple, oak or 
apple tree about eight or nine feet from the ground, it is a most remarkable 
piece of workmanship, composed of fibers, string, cobwebs, scraps of paper and 
bits of hornets’ nests, all woven in to form a firm, durable structure of great 
beauty and daintiness. 
White-Eyed Vireo. The general habits of the white-eyed vireo resemble 
those of the red-eyed species except that it is less common, comes later in 
April or early May, and builds its nest in lower bushes or vines. It frequents 
the gardens and orchards more than the red-eyed, and is bolder, being quite 
a scold at times when disturbed. 
Warhling Vireo. The warbling vireo resembles very closely the red-eyed in 
all its habits. Its nest, however, is usually placed at a height of twenty or 
thirty feet and contains some moss as a rule. Its song is much more beautiful 
than the red-eyed, though even he has much of sweetness in his simple melody. 
Loggerhead Shrike: Butcher-Bird. The shrike, known among the farmers 
as mouse-bird and among the boys as butcher-bird, is one of the first to arrive 
from the south and one of the last to leave. Arriving here the last of Febru- 
ary or the first of March, its nest is often built and eggs laid before March 
25th, while May Day has found the second nest built and eggs incubating. Two 
different years have I found snow on the ground when the young birds of the 
first brood were learning to fiy. 
The shrike’s food consists largely of beetles, grasshoppers, mice and small 
birds. In localities where English sparrows are very abundant, they furnish 
most of the shrike’s bill of fare, though I have rarely found them killing our 
native birds. Their habit of hanging the mice and birds killed on thorns has 
given rise to the name of butcher-bird. 
