THE CATBIRD. 227 



" Some persons do not admire the Catbird on account of 

 his sombre plumage," says Susan Fenimore Cooper, in her 

 delicious "Rural Hours," "but the rich shaded grays of 

 his coat strike us as particularly pleasing, and his form is 

 elegant. His cry, to be sure, is odd enough for a bird; and 

 sometimes when he repeats it twenty times in succession in 

 the course of half an hour, one feels inclined to box his ears. 

 It is the more provoking in him to insult us in this way, 

 because some of his notes, when he chooses, are very 

 musical — soft and liquid — as different as possible from his 

 harsh, grating cry. Like his cousin, the Mockingbird, he 

 often deserves a good shaking for his caprices, both belong- 

 ing to the naughty class of 'birds who can sing, and won't 

 sing,' except when it suits their fancy." 



The nest, placed in a bush or brush-pile, is constructed of 

 coarse shreds of bark, stalks of weeds, and dried leaves, 

 occasionally ornamented with one or two rags or feathers, 

 and lined with rootlets, giving the inside a uniform dark 

 color, which is quite characteristic. The eggs, commonly 4, 

 some .95 X. 70, are of a fine, dark bluish-green. A second 

 brood is sometimes raised. 



How bravely the Catbird will attack the black snake, that 

 arch-enemy of birds' nests on and near the ground, wrig- 

 gling about vines and bushes after the manner of a more 

 ancient individual of his kind, almost as much at home in a 

 tree as on the ground — how our bird will attack him with 

 bill and claw, and not infrequently compel him to retreat, 

 has been noted by almost every ornithologist. 



In spring and early summer the food of the Catbird is 

 insectivorous. Larvae in general, and cutworms, as well as 

 winged insects, constitute the bulk of its fare. Later in the 

 season it is partial to small fruits, feeding mostly on wild 

 berries of swamps and thickets. It is therefore the friend 



