70 
ICTERIA VIRIDIS. 
the bird itself remains unseen, the voice shifts from 
place to place, among the hushes, as if it proceeded from 
a spirit. First is heard a repetition of short notes, 
resembling the whistling of the wings of a duck or teal, 
beginning loud and rapid, and falling lower and slower, 
till they end in detached notes ; then a succession of 
others, something like the barking of young puppies, is 
followed by a variety of hollow, guttural sounds, each 
eight or ten times repeated, more like those proceeding 
from the throat of a quadruped than that of a bird; 
which are succeeded by others not unlike the mewing 
of a cat, but considerably hoarser. All these are uttered 
with great vehemence, in such different keys, and with 
such peculiar modulations of voice, as sometimes to 
seem at a considerable distance, and instantly as if just 
beside you ; now on this hand, now on that ; so that, 
from these manoeuvres of ventriloquism, you are utterly 
at a loss to ascertain from what particular spot or 
quarter they proceed. If the weather be mild and 
serene, with clear moonlight, he continues gabbling in 
the same strange dialect, with very little intermission, 
during the whole night, as if disputing with his own 
echoes ; but probably with a design of inviting the 
passing females to his retreat ; for, when the season is 
farther advanced, they are seldom heard during the 
night. 
About the middle of May they begin to build. Their 
nest is usually fixed in the upper part of a bramble bush, 
in an almost impenetrable thicket ; sometimes in a thick 
vine or small cedar ; seldom more than four or five feet 
from the ground. It is composed outwardly of dry 
leaves, within these are laid thin strips of the bark of 
grape-vines, and the inside is lined with fibrous roots 
of plants, and fine dry grass. The female lays four eggs, 
slightly flesh-coloured, and speckled all over with spots 
of brown or dull red. The young are hatched in 
twelve days ; and make their first excursion from the 
nest about the second week in June. A friend of mine, 
an amateur in canary birds, placed one of the chat’s 
eggs under a hen canary, who brought it out ; but it 
