278 BIRDS—SYLVICOLIDA. 
; . 
house is over the creek, and he calls the dogs; says that you have gone 
to seed; go west and grow up with the country; that you are taking up 
too much of his valuable time, that you must excuse him fur a moment. 
During all this time he remains invisible, or at most, his black eye and 
mask, or golden breast, appear for a moment as he peers at you from the 
tangled branches of the brambles, or flashes from branch to branch, 
dancing an accompaniment to his fantastic notes. At the last, he cud- 
denly appears on the top of a bush not ten feet from you, makes a pro- 
found bow, and with a derisive whirk of his long tail, exposes his im- 
maculate white crissum and dives again into the deepest thicket. You 
take a long breath and wipe your face, and he returns to the assault from 
the rear. Should you move on, he follows, and if you approach, he re- 
tires, and, keeping at a respectful distance, he laughs defiance, shouts | 
mockery and tantalizing sarcasm. He is a fearful scold, and it is no 
wonder the inside of his mouth is black. But this is when he knows he 
has the advantage. Sometimes he may be surprised as he sings in the 
upper branches of a tree. He then sits motionless, continuing his song 
as if unaware of any intrusion upon his privacy, and so resonant and 
varying are his notes, that they confuse the earas to the spot from which 
they come, while his yellow breast so completely harmonizes with the 
green leaves and sunlight, that he is with difficulty discovered. It is to 
his rapid and sonorous notes, quick motions or perfect quiet, with har- 
monious surroundings, that*he owes the reputation for ventriloguism 
which he has obtained; and it may be said of his reputation for mimicry, 
that he has no need to borrow notes from any other bird, and doves not 
knowingly do so. 
Before the breeding season is over it becomes as silent as during the 
spring migration, and leaves for the south as stealthily as it came. 
In t' is vicinity the Chats are very common, but of somewhat irregular 
distribution, showing a decided preference, during the breeding season, 
for upland thickets with a southern exposure They are more social 
when breeding than most birds. I have found four or five nests on a 
single acre in a favorite locality. Usually the eggs are all laid by June 
10. The nest is placed in the bushes of a thicket or in the perpendicu- 
Jar fork of a sapling, from three to six feet from the ground. ‘It is rather 
large, but neatly constructed for the materials used, which are mainly 
leaves, strips of grape-vine bark, and grass. In this vicinity every nest 
has a few brownish-red tendrils of a creeping plant in the lining and 
about the rim, apparently for ornament. The eggs are almost uni- 
formly four, often nearly spherical, glossy white, with spots of reddish- 
brown, usually pretty evenly distributed, but sometimes forming a ring 
