GENUS I. ICTERIA. Vieill. CHAT.
Bill of moderate length, stout, slightly arched, broad at the base, compressed toward the end; upper mandible with the sides convex, the edges sharp, destitute of notch, the tip acute and a little declinate; lower mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight, the edge-line slightly arched and inflected. Nostrils roundish, half covered by a vaulted membrane. General form rather robust; head ovate, neck short, body moderate. Legs of moderate length, slender; tarsus compressed, anteriorly covered with eight scutella, of which the upper are blended; two lateral toes nearly equal, the hind one not much stouter. Claws moderate, arch much compressed, laterally grooved, very acute. Plumage soft and blended. Bristles very small. Wings of moderate length, rounded, third and fourth primaries longest, second little shorter, first longer than sixth. Tail rather long, rounded.
244. 1. Icteria viridis, Gmel. Yellow-breasted Chat.
Plate CXXXVII. Male and Female.
Upper parts deep olive-green; fore part of neck and breast bright yellow; abdomen and lower tail-coverts white; eyelids, a band over the eye, and a shorter one from the base of lower mandible, white; loral space black.
Male, 7, 9.
From Texas to Connecticut. Inland as far as Kentucky. Abundant. Migratory.
Yellow-breasted Chat, Pipra polyglotta, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. i. p. 90.
Icteria viridis, Bonap. Syn. p. 69.
Yellow-breasted Chat, Icteria viridis, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 299.
Yellow-breasted Chat, Icteria viridis, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 223; v. v. p. 433.