LONG-TAILED CHAT. Icteria virens longicauda Lawrence

Field characters.—Larger than Junco. Sexes alike. Tail about as long as body. Upper surface plain greenish brown; throat and breast solidly clear yellow; belly white; eyelids and stripe over eye white. Active but not nervous. Often flies up above vegetation to sing. Voice: Song of male a strikingly varied series of calls and whistles uttered slowly in irregular sequence.

Occurrence.—Common summer visitant along west base of Sierra Nevada, chiefly in Lower Sonoran Zone. Recorded at Snelling and Lagrange, less commonly at Pleasant Valley, and sporadically at Smith Creek, six miles east of Coulterville. Observed once, June 30, 1916, at Mono Lake Post Office, east of the mountains. Lives in willows and shrubbery near water. Solitary or in pairs.

The Long-tailed Chat is common in the thickets which line the margins of the Merced and Tuolumne rivers, in the San Joaquin Valley, and some of the birds penetrate into the foothills. A few were noted at the mouths of the small cañons which join the Merced River at Pleasant Valley, and a pair or more were, in 1915, established along Smith Creek, east of Coulterville. Snelling is a local center of abundance for the species; as many as 20 were recorded during an hour and a half in the bottom lands there on May 29, 1915. Chats and Yellowthroats often live on common ground, but the former, because of their size and actions as well as voice, are much the more conspicuous of the two.

The Long-tailed Chat is a talkative bird; its song is totally different from that of any of the other warblers, recalling, rather, the mockingbird and thrasher in its variety and lack of continuity. The bird utters calls, whistles, and chuckling notes in endless combinations, and it sometimes executes fair imitations of the notes of other species. We have heard the chat in full song as early as 3:15 in the morning, and it continues to sing until late dusk; sometimes it breaks forth in the night time. Its best efforts seem to be put forth in the drowsy heat of early afternoon when many other tuneful creatures are silent. During the course of a song the bird often jumps up high into the air and then flutters slowly down to its perch with curiously drooping wings and tail. Although an active bird the chat does not ordinarily display any nervousness of movement as do the smaller warblers, its actions in general being deliberate.

These birds arrive by the first part of May, having been found already present near Lagrange on May 6, 1919, and they depart by September.