THE CATBIRD 



Mockingbird Family — Mimidce 



Length: Nearly 9 inches. 



Male and Female: A slender, long-tailed, gray bird, with a 

 black crown and tail, and chestnut-brown feathers 

 under the tail; breast somewhat paler than back; bill 

 slightly curved. 



Note: A soft wd, not unlike the mew of a kitten. 



Song: A delightful warble — soft, sweet, and musical, though 

 it is occasionally interspersed with the catlike noise 

 wd, and with sounds of mimicry. Catbirds are 

 sometimes called northern mockingbirds. 



Habitat: Tangled thickets preferred. Fruit trees, berry- 

 patches, and garden-shrubbery are also sought. 



Nest: A veritable scrap-basket made of twigs, leaves, grasses, 

 plant-fibers and rootlets, with paper sometimes inter- 

 woven. One nest that I examined contained a scrap 

 from a torn letter and a fragment of a sermon from 

 a newspaper. Several tell-tale cherry-stones lay on 

 the bottom, circumstantial evidence of theft. 



Eggs: A lovely greenish-blue, not unlike those of the robin. 



(Range: A common bird of eastern North America, from cen- 

 tral Canada to the Gulf and northern Florida. It 

 is found in the northwestern part of the U. S. and 

 winters in our southern states and in Central Amer- 

 ica. 



THE catbird is well-named. It is the color of a Mal- 

 tese cat, is sleek and agile, and in movement quiet 

 and stealthy. Its mew is so like that of a kitten as to be 

 confusing to the uninitiated. I recall the frantic barking 



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