134 



off, however, her anger is unrestrained and she gives her 

 opinion of you in strident tones that alarm the bird popula- 

 tion for a long distance around. Catbird anger is not ex- 

 pressed solely in noise either; I have seen a chipmunk run- 

 ning for his life to escape from the attacks of a pair that 

 had caught him in the bushes near their nest; I have seen 

 them dash furiously at a black snake^ that was hunting 

 among the branches for egg-dainties, until he was forced to 



Fig. 115. YOUNG CATBIRD. 



slip to the ground and flee; and I have had one of them come 

 screaming at me and peck at my fingers as I reached 

 through the briers to feel what was in a nest. Their most 

 effective note of protest is a loud, whining "tschay" re- 

 peated as fast as they can get their breath and sometimes 

 drawn out into a continuous scream. 



My experiences at photographing Catbirds have been 

 many and varied; I have had a lot of the experience and 

 got but few of the pictures. I have not yet induced one to 

 return and feed its young while I had a camera in position 



