Nesting of the Yellow-Breasted Chat in Saskatchewan
Nesting of the Yellow-breasted Chat in Saskatchewan.
The Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) was first recorded in Saskatchewan by Taverner (Auk, 44, 1927, p. 227)) some twenty-five miles west of this point (Eastend). Since that date, June 4, 1921, the bird has been noted frequently by the writer and other residents of this section of the Province. On June 21, 1936, I was trying to stalk a chat in some thick brush and by good luck flushed a sitting female from her nest. This nest was placed in a gooseberry bush two feet from the ground and contained one egg. The chat is said to desert its nest on very small provocation, so I left the spot at once and did not return until eight days later. On this occasion I was accompanied by two naturalist friends, Mr. Chas. F. Holmes and his son Paul. This time the nest contained four eggs, three of the chat, and one of the cowbird. We collected the female bird, but her mate, as usual, was adept at concealing himself, the while scolding us from close-by. The eggs, when blown, proved to be well incubated, an interesting point, for the chat is generally supposed to desert its nest at once rather than be victimized by the cowbird. So far as can be ascertained, this is the tirst recorded nesting of the Yellowbreasted Chat anywhere in the three prairie provinces.
Laurence B. Potter
Gower Ranch, Eastend, Saskatchewan, Canada, August 16, 1935
