NATURE'S GROTESQUE. 
(THE YELLOW-B 
I HIS bird comedian is an actor, 
4 I a mimic, and a ventrilo- 
^ I quist; he has been called " a 
rollicking polygot," " an ec- 
centric acrobat," "a happy-go-lucky 
clown, turning aerial somersaults," "a 
Punchinello among birds," and from 
my own experience I can add that he 
is a practical joker and " an artful 
dodger." His voice is absolutely 
unique in its range. Besides his 
power as a ventriloquist, to throw it in 
any direction, and so entice away from 
his nest any intruder upon his domain, 
he possesses the most unequaled capac- 
ity for making queer noises. On a 
certain summer day I was driving to 
Monticello, the Virginia home of Pres- 
ident Jefferson, along a beautiful road, 
bordered by tall trees and a thick, 
leafy undergrowth where a thousand 
nests might be safely hidden. All 
along a road the Chats called chit, chit, 
or barked, whined, clucked, whistled, 
sang, chuckled and called overhead, 
or out of the bushes beside us, always 
invisible, or just giving a nutter to the 
leaves to show their presence. One of 
the party declared one called Kitty, 
Kitty! distinctly, and he also mim- 
micked a puppy most successfully. 
Later on, in July, I was stopping near 
a favorite haunt of the Chats; a country 
place on the edge of the woods, where 
thickly growing shrubs and bushes 
filled the deep hollows between the 
hills and near the streams. Here they 
had their broods, and not only all day, 
but late in the evening by moonlight 
they could be heard, making the whole 
place ring with their medley of sounds, 
while not a feather of them could be 
seen. 
Yet I finally succeeded in catching 
various glimpses of them, and in 
equally characteristic, though different 
EASTED CHAT.) 
moods. First, I saw them darting rap- 
idly to and fro on foraging journeys, 
their bills filled with food, for they are 
most admirable husbands and fathers, 
and faithful to the nests that they hide 
with such care. They are beautiful 
birds, rich olive-green above and a 
bright yellow below, with two or three 
pure white lines or stripes about the 
eye and throat and a " beauty spot " 
of black near the beak. I watched 
one balancing on a slender twig near 
the water in the bright sunshine and 
his colors, green and gold, fairly glit- 
tered. His nest is usually near the 
ground in the crotch of a low branch 
and is a rather large one, woven of 
bark in strips, coarse grass and leaves, 
and lined with finer grass for the three 
or four white eggs, adorned with small 
reddish-brown spots. One pair had 
their home near a blackberry thicket, 
and they might be seen gobbling ber- 
ries and peeping at you. with bright 
black eyes all the while. 
The Chat excels in extraordinary 
and absurd pose ; wings fluttering, tail 
down, legs dangling like a Stork, he 
executes all kinds of tumbles in the 
air. It is said that a Chat courtship 
is a sight never to be forgotten by the 
lucky spectator. Such somersaults, 
such songs, such queer jerks and starts. 
Our bird is one of the Wood Warbler 
family, a quiet and little known group 
of birds. His elusiveness and skill 
in hiding, and his swift movements, 
are his only traits in common with 
them. Ella F. Mosby. 
In those vernal seasons of the year, 
when the air is calm and pleasant, it 
were an injury and sullenness against 
Nature not to go out and see her riches 
and partake in her rejoicing with 
heaven and earth. — Milton. 
149 
