YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. 277 
Genus ICTERIA. Vieillot. 
The characters of this genus are those of the sub-family given above. 
IcTERIA VIRENS (L.) Bd. 
Wellow-breasted Chat. 
Ieteria viridis, AUDUBON, Orn. Biog, ii, 1834, 223; B. Am.,, iv, 1843, 160.—KIRTLAND, Ohio 
Geolog. Surv., 1838, 163.—R#AD, Fam. Vis., iii, 1853, 375; Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., 
vi, 1853, 395.—WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 1861, 363; Reprint, 5. 
Icteria virens, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 564; Re- 
print, 4—Lanepon, Cat. Birds of Cin, 177, 6; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. 
Hist., 1879, 173; Reprint, 7. 
Turdus virens, LINNZUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1758, 171. 
Muscicapa viridis, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 936. 
Icteria viridis, BONAPARTE, Journ. Philad. Acad, iv, 1825, 252. 
Icteria virens, BAIRD, Rev. N. A. Birds, 1865, 228. 
9 
Bright olive-green; below, golden yellow, belly abruptly white; lore black, isolat- 
ing the white under eyelid from a white superciliary line above and a short maxillary 
line below; wings and tail unmarked, glossed with olive; bill and feet blue-black. 
| 
Length, 7-74; wing, about 3; tail, about 32. 
Habitat, Eastern United States; north to Massachusetts; west to the Plains, beyond 
which it is replaced by var. longicauda. 
Very common summer resident; abundant in the southern, not very 
common in the northern portions of the State. Arrives in Middle Ohio 
about May 1, and remains until the last of August. : 
When migrating no bird is more shy and retiring than the Chat. 
They skulk along silently in thickets along the banks of streams, or on 
the edges of upland woods. But ne sconer has pairing been effected, 
than their whole nature seems changed, and the silent bird becomes the 
noisiest of the wood. His shyness gives way to an audacity which is 
surprising. If he discovers the approach of a human being, even at a 
considerable distance, he prepares to resent the intrusion; and giving 
three short, loud whistles, very low in tone, as a warning, he advances 
toward him, all the while careful that he should be heard and not seen. 
Then follows a medley of sputtering, cackling, whispering and scolding 
. hotes, frequently interspersed with loud whistles, and continued as the 
bird runs, hops, or flies in the deepest thicket, with a pertinacity which 
knows no fatigue. He tells you that your gun won’t shoot, that it is a 
flint-lock, that your ram-rod is broken, that you shot it at a buzzard, that 
you haven’t got a gun; that you are a bald-headed cripple; that there is a 
horrid suicide in the bushes, and a big snake and a nasty skunk; that 
your baby is crying, your house is afire and the bridge broken down; 
at you have missed the road to the reform farm, and that the poor 
