The eggs of this bird are oblong-oval, less spherical than those of the Black-bill, and have an equal obtuseness at each end. They are of light bluish-green color, and, like those of the other, are quite apt to fade on exposure to light, thus rendering them difficult of distinction. The average measurement is 1.22 inches in length, and .94 in width, although specimens are occasionally found which show marked variations in size, some being smaller, but few exceeding these dimensions.
Plate XLVI.--ICTERIA VIRENS, (Linn.) Baird.--Yellow-breasted Chat.
|Probably no species possesses greater peculiarities of voice, manners and habits than the one we are about to notice. Somewhat terrestrial in life, frequenting tangled vines and brambles, it seemingly abhors publicity, and is best pleased when under concealment. When hid away in its almost inaccessible retreats it is hard to locate, and this difficulty is enhanced by its wonderful powers of ventriloquism. It is a restless being, however, delighting in new sights and scenes, and though its movements are well-timed and silent, yet it does not always escape detection.
Its distribution throughout the United States is somewhat restricted, and its abundance in any given locality is uncertain. It ranges from Florida to Massachusetts, and as far to the west as Fort Riley and Eastern Kansas. Among the Rocky Mountains to the northward, it has been observed to reach the sources of the Arkansas. In Massachusetts, it is not uncommon, and a few are known to breed at Lynn, Farther northward, on the Atlantic seaboard, we have no mention of it. In Central New York it is a very rare summer visitor, and in Southern Illinois we learn that it breeds in common with the Maryland Yellow-throat, but diminishes in numbers to the north. Mexico and Guatemala claim it in their avi-fauna, but there are no records of its inhabiting any of the West India Islands.
From their winter resorts, long after the Thrushes and Sparrows have reached their summer homes, these Chats, in the company of the vast army of Warblers of which they are a part, take up their flight late in April, but it is not until the first week of May that they reach Pennsylvania. Other portions of their limited habitat are attained at nearly the same time. But it is the males who first appear. For reasons, which we do not understand, the females are slow in making their appearance, and do not arrive until three days later.