Hab. Eastern United States, west to Arkansas; rare north of Pennsylvania; south to Eastern Mexico and Guatemala. Not noticed in West Indies.
Icteria virens.
Both sexes in winter apparently have the base of lower mandible light-colored, the olive more brown, the sides and crissum with a strong ochraceous tinge. It is this plumage that has been recognized as I. velasquezi.
Habits. The Yellow-breasted Chat is found throughout the Eastern United States, from Massachusetts to Florida, and as far to the west as Fort Riley and Eastern Kansas. Mr. Say met with it among the Rocky Mountains as far north as the sources of the Arkansas. It is not very rare in Massachusetts, but a few breed in that State as far north as Lynn. It has been found in Mexico and Guatemala, but not, so far as I am aware, in the West Indies.
Probably no one of our birds has more distinctly marked or greater peculiarities
of voice, manners, and habits than this very singular bird. It is somewhat terrestrial in its life, frequenting tangled thickets of vines, briers, and brambles, and keeping itself very carefully concealed. It is noisy and vociferous, constantly changing its position and moving from place to place.
It is not abundant north of Pennsylvania, where it arrives early in May and leaves the last of August. The males are said always to arrive three or four days before their mates.
This species is described by Wilson as very much attached to certain localities where they have once taken up their residence, appearing very jealous, and offended at the least intrusion. They scold vehemently at every one who approaches or even passes by their places of retreat, giving utterance to a great variety of odd and uncouth sounds. Wilson states that these sounds may be easily imitated, so as to deceive the bird itself, and to draw it after one; the bird following repeating its cries, but never permitting itself to be seen. Such responses he describes as constant and rapid, and strongly expressive both of anger and anxiety, their voice, as it shifts, unseen, from place to place, seeming to be more like that of a spirit than a bird. These sounds Wilson compares to the whistling of the wings of a duck, being repetitions of short notes, beginning loud and rapid, and falling lower and lower. Again a succession of other notes, said to closely resemble the barking of young puppies, is followed by a variety of hollow, guttural sounds, each eight or ten times repeated, at times resembling the mewing of a cat, only hoarser,—all of these, as he states, uttered with great vehemence, in different keys and with peculiar modulations, now as if at a considerable distance, and the next moment as if close by your side; so that, by these tricks of ventriloquism, one is utterly at a loss to ascertain from what particular quarter they proceed. In mild weather this strange melody of sounds is kept up throughout the night during the first of the pairing-season, but ceases as soon as incubation commences.
They construct their nest about the middle of May. These are placed within a few feet of the ground, in the midst of low brambles, vines, and bushes, generally in a tangled thicket. They build a rude but strongly woven nest, the outer portions more loosely made of dry leaves; within these are interwoven thin strips of the bark of the wild grape, fibrous roots, and fine dry grasses.