[f. CHAT v., in reference to the character of their voice.] A name applied to several birds, chiefly Sylviadæ or Warblers: viz. to the species of Saxicola, the Furze-chat or Whin-chat, Stone-chat, and Wheat-ear; also to the Hay-chat or Nettle-creeper, and Sedge Warbler; b. in N. America, to other birds, e.g., the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria polyglotta) and Long-tailed Chat (I. longicauda).

1

1697.  Dampier, Voy. (1729), III. I. 403. The Chatt has a black Tail with white Tips.

2

1708.  W. King, Cookery (1807), 148. The chats come to us in April and breed and about Autumn return to Afrik.

3

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 209. Yellow Breasted Chat, Garrulus Australis.

4

1829.  [J. L. Knapp], Jrnl. Naturalist (1830), 413. Chats, larks, and grey wagtails.

5

1865.  J. G. Wood, Homes without H., xxviii. 543. The Whitethroat (Curruca cinerea) sometimes called the Haychat and Nettle-creeper.

6

1879.  Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 50. The chats, who perch on the furze or on the heaps of flints.

7