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Yellow-breasted
Chat
Icteria virens [Eastern
Yellow-breasted Chat]
[Published
in 1953: Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum
Bulletin 203: 587-599]
This curious bird seems somewhat out of place among the wood
warblers, on account of its large size, different proportions, and
strikingly different behavior. There were confused ideas among the
earlier writers as to where it belongs. Audubon classed it with
the manakins, and others have placed it with the vireos or with
the honeycreepers, but structurally it seems to be most closely
related to the wood warblers, with its nine primaries, partly
booted tarsus, and deeply cleft inner toe. It differs from the
vireos, which also have nine primaries, in having no notch in the
bill. But it also differs from the wood warblers in having a
larger, heavier and more curved bill, shorter and more rounded
wings, and relatively longer and more graduated tail.
During the breeding season the species Icteria virens
occupies practically all the United States, except Florida, the
Gulf coast, and northern New England. Its range extends into
southern New England, where it is rare and irregular north and
east of Connecticut, and into some southern portions of central
Canada, where it is also irregular in its occurrence. Throughout
all this range it is perhaps commoner than we suppose, on account
of its secretive habits. Its favorite resorts are the very dense
thickets and briery tangles that grow in profusion on low, damp
ground, along small streams, or about the borders of ponds or
swamps. But it also finds a congenial home in isolated patches of
thick, tangled shrubbery on high, dry ground, in old, neglected
pastures and along the edges of woodlands. Especially attractive
are such upland thickets where small trees and bushes are entwined
with an almost impenetrable tangle of catbrier, Virginia creeper,
poison ivy, and wild grape vines. In such unattractive places for
exploration, the bird is often overlooked by the casual observer,
for it is a past master in the art of keeping out of sight. But a
medley of strange sounds, musical and otherwise, catcalls,
whistles, and various bird notes coming from points now here, now
there in the bushes will betray the presence of this furtive and
elusive clown among birds. Then, if we sit down quietly and squeak
in imitation of a wounded bird, curiosity will prompt this
versatile performer to show himself for a moment, after which he
will disappear, to scold us from some remote corner of his
retreat.
Courtship.--Chats are not much
in evidence on their spring migration; they apparently do not
often make long sustained flights in the open, but move along by
short stages, keeping concealed for the most part in the dense
thickets of shrubbery and vines, and are largely silent. But when
they reach their chosen breeding grounds, the males proclaim their
presence and advertise their home territory by the medley of
whistling, chuckling, barking, and mewing sounds, coupled with the
curious eccentricities that have made them famous.
When the females arrive, about a week later, the males greet
them with a richer, more musical, and more pleasing performance,
which P. A. Taverner (1906) describes very well, as follows:
His love-song is a woodland idyl and makes up for much of
his shortcomings. From some elevated perch from which he can
survey the surrounding waste for a considerable distance, he
flings himself into the air--straight up he goes on fluttering
wings--legs dangling, head raised, his whole being tense and
spasmodic with ecstasy. As he rises he pours fourth a flood of
musical gurgles, and whistles that drop from him in silvery
cascades to the ground, like sounds of fairy chimes. As he reaches
the apex of his flight his wings redouble their beatings, working
straight up and down, while the legs hanging limply down remind
the observer of those drawings we sometimes see from the brushes
of Japanese artists. He holds his hovering position for an
instant, then the music gradually dies away; and, as he sinks
toward the ground, he regains his natural poise, and seeks another
perch like that from which he started. What mistress could turn a
deaf ear to such love-making as that? And we can rest assured that
his does not.
Nesting.--Although the eastern
yellow-breasted chat has nested a number of times, rather
irregularly, in Massachusetts, I have never found it farther north
and east than Connecticut, where it is a regular and common
breeder.
I find three typical nests recorded in my notes, found near New
Haven, Conn., on June 3 and 4, 1910. The first was 3 feet from the
ground in a clump of dogwood and hawthorn bushes; and the second
was in a thicket of small black birches overgrown with catbriers,
30 inches above ground; both of these nests were rather insecurely
attached to their supports; the locality was a large neglected
tract of cut-over land, grown up to scattered clumps of bushes and
sprouting stumps. The third nest was only 2 feet up in a small
huckleberry bush in a scrubby field, full of underbrush and
scattered red cedars. The three nests were all much alike,
consisting of a foundation of dead leaves, coarse straws, and weed
stems, on which was built a firmly woven inner nest of grapevine
bark, thinly lined with fine weed stems and grasses.
A. Dawes DuBois has sent me his notes on two nests found in
Sangamon County, Ill., on May 30, 1908. The first of these was
"two feet from the ground in a clump of blackberry briers, in
a pasture thicket. It was constructed outwardly of small vine and
weed stems, then a thick layer of dried oak leaves which formed
the body of the nest. There was a slight lining of grasses and
fine plant stems, inside the layer of leaves. A few shreds of
coarse grass were added just before the layer of leaves was put
in. There were 32 oak leaves and one elm leaf in the body of the
nest, all smoothly laid in place. The dimensions were: internal
diameter 3 inches, depth 2; external diameter 5 inches, depth
3." The second nest was "3 feet from the ground in a
wild gooseberry bush intergrown with blackberry briers, amid dense
foilage, in a thicket-grown pasture." He mentions seven other
nests, seen in Tompkins County, N. Y.; most were from 2 1/2 to 5
feet up in various bushes, but one was "about 8 feet from the
ground, loosely supported on a drooping young elm tree in a dense
thicket."
T. E. McMullen's notes record data on 34 New Jersey and
Pennsylvania nests found at heights from 18 inches to 5 feet; 21
of these were in blackberries, the others being in various bushes
and vines; 3 were in hollies.
Nests of the yellow-breasted chat have doubtless been found in
many other small trees and bushes, but the notes I have cited give
a good idea of its usual nesting habits. Dr. Chapman (1907) says
that he has known chats to nest in a village when favorable
cover was available. A most unusual nesting site is recorded by
Charles F. Batchelder (1881); a pair of chats began building a
nest in a wren box on a piazza; a violent windstorm blew down the
box, which was replaced, but the chats did not return.
Eggs.--The number of eggs laid by the
yellow-breasted chat varies from 3 to 5 to a set, commonly 5, but
as many as 6 have been recorded. The eggs are ovate and rather
glossy. The white, or creamy white, ground color is speckled and
spotted with "bay," "chestnut,"
"auburn," "argus brown," or
"chestnut-brown," with under spottings of "brownish
drab," "light vinaceous-drab," or "pale
brownish drab." The markings, usually sharply defined, are
generally scattered over the entire egg with some concentration at
the large end. Often the brown and the drab markings are equally
intermingled, and then again the drab spots may be entirely
lacking. Some of the more attractive eggs are marked with
blotches, often of two or three shades of brown mixed with the
drabs.
The measurements of 50 eggs average 21.9 by 16.9 millimeters;
the eggs showing the four extremes measure 25.4 by 17.3,
22.1 by 18.3, 18.3 by 17.3, and 22.1 by 15.8
millimeters (Harris).
Young.--F. L. Burns (1915b and 1921)
recorded the incubation period as 15
days, which is probably unusual, for George A. Petrides (1938)
determined it to be 11 days "from the appearance of the full
clutch." Burns gives 11 days for the young to remain in the
nest, but Petrides says that they spent 8 days in the nest before
leaving. The latter continues:
The young were born naked. Brooding of both eggs and young
was accomplished by the female alone during the period of
observation, although both sexes evidently feed the young. . . .
The food of the young consisted almost entirely of
soft-bodied orthoptera and larval lepidoptera. The only insect
definitely identified was the large green mantis (Paratenodera
sinensis), two half-grown specimens of which were fed the
four-day old young. An unknown species of brown, almost hairless
caterpillar was the greatest capture in numbers. A small green
long-horned locust and a small brownish grasshopper also were fed
the youngsters.
Four-day old young were fed only six times in five hours by
the female, although the male attempted unsuccessfully to feed
them several times. Copeland (1909), however, records a feeding
time average of once every thirty-four minutes for the four-day
old young over a thirteen-hour period.
The nest was kept very clean and the female, after feeding
the young, would look carefully about the nest and if any
excretory capsules were present she would pick them up in her bill
and eat them. On one occasion, after swallowing the excretory sacs
of two of the young she pulled a third capsule from the anus of
the third and flew off with it.
Plumages.--The yellow-breasted
chat seems to be the only wood warbler that develops no natal
down, and the only one that has a complete postjuvenal molt,
characteristics that suggest a wrong classification!
Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the juvenal plumage as "above,
grayish olive-brown. Wings and tail olive-brown, edged with dull
brownish olive-green. Below, ashy gray washed with olive-gray
across the jugulum and on the sides. Auriculars grayish and lores
dusky with a trace of white above the eye. . . . This plumage has
been figured in colors (Auk, XVI, 1899, pp. 217-220, pl.
III)."
The first winter plumage is "acquired by a complete
postjuvenal moult after the middle of July. Two specimens examined
show a complete moult in progress and the color and shape of
rectrices in the limited material at my disposal points to this
unusual moult, for this is the only Warbler known to me that
renews wings and tail at this time."
He describes the first winter plumage of the male as
"above, brownish olive-green, the wings and tail darker than
in juvenal plumage and with greener edgings. Below, bright
lemon-yellow, somewhat veiled with olive-gray, the abdomen and
crissum dull white, the sides washed with olive-brown. Lores,
suborbital region and postocular stripe dull black, veiled with
ashy feather tips. Superciliary, suborbital and malar stripes
white. Young and old become practically indistinguishable although
young birds are rather duller."
The first and subsequent nuptial plumages are assumed by wear
and slight fading of the browns and greens. Adults have a complete
postnuptial molt in July, producing the adult winter plumage,
which differs but little from that of the first winter, the black
areas about the head averaging blacker.
Females have the same molts and similar plumages, the colors
being only lighter or duller.
Food.--Probably all of the items
mentioned above in the food of the young are also eaten by adult
chats. A. H. Howell (1932) writes: "The Chat feeds largely on
insects, including beetles, bugs, ants, weevils, bees, wasps, May
flies, and various caterpillars, such as tent caterpillars and
currant worms. It is said to be fond of wild strawberries and
takes considerable other wild fruit, such as blackberries,
raspberries, whortleberries, elderberries, and wild grapes. The
stomachs of 7 specimens taken on Amelia Island in May and June
contained insects and fruit pulp in about equal proportions, with
a few spiders and small crustaceans. The insects included moths
and their larvae, beetles, bugs, ants, wasps, and grasshoppers.
The fruit consisted of blueberries and blackberries."
Elsewhere (1907) he lists the chat among the birds that eat the
cotton-boll weevil.
Behavior.--Next to its
astonishing vocal performances, the eccentric, ludicrous, almost
clownish, behavior is one of the chat's most outstanding
characteristics. Although a bit fanciful and imaginary, Dr. J. M.
Wheaton's (1882) account is a good character study of this buffoon
of the brier patch.
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 notes, frequently interspersed with loud
whistles, and continued as the bird runs, hops, or flies in the
densest thicket, with a pertinacity that knows no fatigue. He
tells you that your gun won't shoot, that it is a flint-lock, that
your ramrod 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; that you have missed the road to the reform
farm, and that the poor 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,
and that you must excuse him for 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. And at last, he suddenly appears on the top of a bush not
ten feet from you, makes a profound bow, and with a derisive whisk
of his long tail, exposes his immaculate 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 retires, 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.
And Taverner (1906) gives the following character sketch:
With his stealthy elusiveness, wild outpourings of song and
fund of vituperation, the Chat is a droll imp. . . . He is full of
life and boiling over with animation. It bubbles out of his throat
in all manner of indescribable sounds.
He laughs dryly, gurgles derisively, whistles triumphantly,
chatters provokingly, and chuckles complacently, all in one
breath. He throws himself about through the bush regardless of
consequences, never still, scrutinizing the intruder in all
attitudes. Viewing him now from under a branch, and then from over
it, talking always exictedly, rather incoherently and usually
indelicately. In fact, one throat is not sufficient to relieve the
pressure of his feelings, and he presses into service his long
tail, and with it wig-wags things such as even he, irresponsible
little sprite that he is, dare not say out loud.
The chat has a well-deserved reputation for shyness and
elusiveness. When the nest is approached, the incubating female
will usually slip off it and away without being observed; and she
has been said to desert her eggs, or even her young, on slight
provocation. But this is not always the case, as is shown by the
many excellent photographs that have been taken of the bird at its
nest. A. D. DuBois tells me that on three out of nine of the nests
examined by him, the sitting bird was quite tame, allowing him to
approach quite closely and, in one case, almost to touch her.
Gradual and careful approach to the nest gave Petrides (1938) an
opportunity to take some fine pictures and to study the home life
of the chat. "The blind, a green umbrella tent six and
one-half feet high, was first erected some eighteen feet from the
nest and moved forward about four feet every other day until, when
the eggs were hatched, the tent was only two and one-half feet
from the nest. On each visit several leaves were plucked from
before the nest until it was well exposed."
His second nest "was approached noisily through the
underbrush on six different occasions and the contents lifted out
and handled," but the birds did not desert it.
Voice.--To the comments already made
on the chat's vocal performances must be added the more serious
contribution of Aretas A. Saunders, who says: "The song of
the yellow-breasted chat is not only entirely unlike that of any
other warbler, but unlike that of any other bird with which I am
acquainted. It is long-continued, and consists of a variety of
notes and phrases delivered in an irregular, mixed order, with
pauses between them. The phrases vary greatly in quality,
consisting of whistles, harsh cackles, squawks, squeals, and
various explosive noises, not always easy to describe. Some of
these are single short notes, short series of notes, or long
series, often retarded in time.
"The pitches of these various sounds range from B' to
A''', almost two octaves. Songs of individual birds range from
three and a half tones to seven and a half, averaging about an
octave. The songs are sometimes fairly rapid, and at other times
slow. I have one song recorded as 7 phrases in 9 seconds, and
another where the average pause between phrases was 6 seconds.
"I have records from 20 different birds, but only those of
11 are believed to be complete, that is, all the phrases commonly
used are recorded. These 11 birds each had from 6 to 10 phrases in
their song, averaging about 7. Only one bird had10 phrases; of
these 5 were single notes, 3 being whistles, 1 harsh, and 1 like a
note on an organ; 2 other phrases were of several notes repeated
in even time, one whistled, the other very harsh; the other 3 were
long series of notes, retarded at the end, two of them whistled
but on different pitches, the other like a long rattle. I recorded
the singing of this bird, and the order of phrases, as it sang 48
phrases. There was great variety in the arrangement. One phrase
was used 11 times, another 10, while 2 other phrases were sung
only once, and the others from 2 to 8 times each.
"Not only is the song unusual, but also the manner of
singing, for the bird frequently flies from one bush to another
while singing, flapping its wings up and down and pumping its
tail, with its legs dangling, the line of flight being exceedingly
jerky.
"This bird is reported to imitate other birds. I have
never heard any thing I believed was an actual imitation, but
there are often sounds that suggest the sounds of other birds. I
recorded one such as 'like the chuck of a robin,' and
another as 'like a note of the yellow-throated vireo,' but I did
not consider them to be imitations.
"The chat sings from the time of its arrival in spring
until about the third week in July, but I have too few
observations to give average dates of cessation."
The yellow-breasted chat, according to Albert R. Brand (1938),
has the lowest-pitched voice of any of the warbler family, its
highest note being but little above the average frequency of all
passerine song; he recorded the highest note as having a frequency
of 4,400 vibrations per second, the lowest 1,275 (the lowest of
all but the starling and the catbird), and the approximate mean
2,600 vibrations per second (lower than all but three or four
others).
Several observers have classed the chat as a mimic, and it
certainly gives that impression, but its own vocabulary is so
extensive and varied that perhaps it is only an impression; it
does not need to learn much from others.
It is a most versatile vocalist and a most persistent singer at
times; its voice may be heard at any hour of the day or night,
especially on moonlit nights. To try to express its varied notes
in syllables is almost hopeless. Mr. Forbush (1929) suggests the
following: "C-r-r-r-r-r, whrr, that's it, chee, quack,
cluck, yit-yit-yit, now hit it, tr-r-r-r, when, caw, caw, cut,
cut, tea-boy, who, who, mew, mew, and so on till you are tired
of listening." Dr. Witmer Stone (1937) heard one give a rapid
call like that of a kingfisher. "One singing from inside a
wild cherry bush had a trill like that of a tree toad, a pheu,
pheu, call like a Greater Yellow-legs, and a strange note
resembling a distant automobile horn. One of the other birds sat
on the top of a dead bush in full view, all hunched up as if its
back were broken and with tail hanging straight down. Every now
and then it would stretch up its neck, which appeared very thick
and out of proportion, with feathers all ruffled up on end, and
utter a triple note hoo-hoo-hoo."
The chat usually sings within the dense thickets in which it
hides, or perhaps from the top of some small tree or bush only a
few feet above the thicket, but Clarence F. Stone mentions in his
notes, sent to me by Verdi Burtch, one that he heard and saw
singing in the top of a large tree, 45 feet above the ground.
Dr. Daniel S. Gage tells me that he heard a chat give a number
of times "a note which we could liken only to the sweet tone
of a silver bell."
Field marks.--Its large size,
heavy bill, and long tail will distinguish the eastern
yellow-breasted chat from any of the other wood warblers, also
from the yellow-throated vireo, which it suggests in color
pattern, though the chat has no white wing bars. The olive-green
upper parts, with no white in wings or tail, the white stripe over
the eye, the bright yellow throat and breast, and the pure white
abdomen are all diagnostic. Its behavior and, above all, its vocal
performances are unlike those of any other bird; as it is more
often heard than seen, it is most easily recognized by its noisy
voice.
Enemies.--The yellow-breasted chat
is a common victim of the cowbird, but it will often desert its
nest after the alien egg is deposited. Dr. Friedmann (1929) gives
about one hundred records of such parasitism, and mentions only
three cases of tolerance, though doubtless there have been many
other cases where chats have accepted the eggs, which are about
the same size as its own, and have raised the young. He says:
"Apparently there is considerable variation in the
sensitiveness of Chats around their nests, but the bulk of the
evidence goes to show that normally a Cowbird's egg has little
chance of ever being hatched by a Yellow-breasted Chat."
Winter.--Dr. Skutch contributes the
following account: "During the winter, the yellow-breasted
chat spreads over Central America, including both coasts and the
lower parts of the highlands, as far as southern Costa Rica. In
this country it is rare and I have never seen it; but I knew it as
a rather abundant winter resident in the Caribbean lowlands of
Honduras, and on both sides of Guatemala. Here I found it on the
coffee plantations of the Pacific slope, up to about 3,500 feet
above sea-level, in January; and while I have no midwinter record
for higher altitudes, on the shore of Lake Atitlan, at 4,900 feet,
during the last week of October, I saw two--a number which,
considering the retiring habits of the bird, indicates fair
abundance.
"The chats arrive in northern Central America toward the
end of September. On October 1, 1930, they suddenly became
exceedingly numerous in the narrow valley of the Tela River in
northern Honduras. As I passed from a dense second-growth thicket
to the comparatively open vegetation of the flood-plain of the
river, I was greeted by a chorus of chucks and cackles, which
reminded me strongly of the sound of a distant flock of purple
grackles or red-winged blackbirds; the voices were by no means so
loud as those of the blackbirds when chattering close at hand, yet
in aggregate they created much the same impression. A numerous
party of garrulous yellow-breasted chats had spread out among the
trees and vine-tangles of the stony plain. Although they so
loquaciously proclaimed their presence, the birds were yet so
wary, lurking among the densest tangles, that they were by no
means easy to glimpse; but during the course of an hour I saw a
number, and watched them forage among the Cecropia and other
trees. Among their varied utterances were harsh clucks, as
a man makes by clacking his tongue far back in his mouth, to urge
a laggard horse, and nasal notes like those of the catbird. How
unexpected to come upon a warbler with a voice like a grackle!
Soon the chats were well distributed over the valley; and their
calls sounded from every side all through the day.
"While migrating, yellow-breasted chats may at times
appear in the most surprising situations. On October 5, 1934, I
found one among the open shrubbery of the central plaza of the
town of Retalhuleu, on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Without
much doubt, this bird used the little park only as a temporary
place of rest, and soon moved on to a more sequestered spot.
"When well settled in their winter home, the chats
gradually grow less loquacious. The flocks in which they
apparently arrive soon disperse; and they live in solitude through
the winter months. Avoiding the forest, they hunt through the most
tangled thickets, where their presence would scarcely be suspected
but for their harsh notes occasionally voiced. They are at all
times so secretive that to glimpse one is a feat--or an accident.
They linger deep in their vine-smothered thickets until about the
middle of April, then return northward. *** "
Yellow-breasted Chat*
Icteria virens
[Eastern Yellow-breasted Chat]
*Original Source: Bent,
Arthur Cleveland. 1953. Smithsonian Institution United
States National Museum Bulletin 203: 587-599. United States
Government Printing Office
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