322 THE CATBIRD. 



Nesting. — Nest, of twigs, weed-stalks, vegetable fibers, and trash, carefully 

 lined with tine rootlets, placed at indifferent heights in bushes or thickets. Eggs, 

 4-5, deep emerald-green, glossy. Av. size, .95 x .69 (24.1x17.5). Season, first 

 two weeks in June : one brood. 



General Range. — Eastern United States and British Provinces, west regu- 

 larly to and including the Rocky Mountains, irregularly to the Pacific Coast from 

 British Columbia to central California. Breeds from the Gulf States northward 

 to the Saskatchewan. Winters in the southern states, Cuba, and middle .\merica 

 to Panama. Bermuda, resident. Accidental in Europe. 



Range in Washington. — Summer resident: not uncommon but locally dis- 

 tributed in eastern and especially northeastern Washington ; penetrates deepest 

 mountain valleys on eastern slope of Cascades, and is regularly established in 

 certain West-side valleys connected by low passes. Casual at Seattle, and else- 

 where at sea-level. 



Authorities. — Galeoscol^tes cari)liiieiisis. Belding, Land Birds of the Pacific 

 District ( 1890), p. 226 (Walla Walla by J. W. W'illiams, 1885). D'. Ss-. Ss-=. J. 



Specimens. — U. of W. Prov. P. C. 



THOSE who hold either a good or a bad opinion of the Catbird are one- 

 sided in their judgment. Two, and not less than two, opinions are possible 

 of one and the same bird. He is both imp and angel, a "feathered Mephis- 

 topheles" and "a heavenly singer." But this is far from saying that the bird 

 lives a double life in the sense ordinarily understood, for in the same minute 

 he is grave, gay, ]jensive and clownish. Nature made liini brtth a wag and a 

 poet, and it is no wonder if the roguishness and high ])hilosophy become 

 inextricably entangled. One moment he stei>s forth before you as sleek as 

 Beau Brummel, graceful, pnlished, equal-eyed; then he cocks liis liead to one 

 side and squints at you like a thief ; next he hangs his head, droops wings 

 and tail, and looks like a dog being lectured for killing sheep: — Presto, 

 change! the bird ])ulls himself up to an extravagant height and with e.xag- 

 gerated gruffness, croaks out, "Who are you?" Then without waiting for an 

 answer to his impudent question, the rascal sneaks off thru the bushes, 

 hugging e\'er\- feather close to his fiody, delixering a running fire of cat-calls, 

 squawks, and ex])ressions of cuntemjit. There is no accounting for him: he 

 is an irrepressible — and a genius. 



The Catbird is not common in Washington, save in the northeastern 

 portion of the State, where it is well established. Miss Jennie A\ Getty finds 

 them regularly at North Bend, and there is a Seattle record : so that there is 

 reason to believe that the Catbird is one of those few species which are ex- 

 tending their range by encroachment from neighboring territory. There can 

 be no question that civilization is conducive to the bird's welfare, primarily 

 bv increasing the quantity of its cover on the East-side, and, possibly, by re- 

 ducing it on tlie \\'est. Catbirds, when at home, are found in thickets and in 

 loose shrubbery. River-banks are lined with them, and cha]:)arral-covered hill- 



