CATBIRD 337 



beat of the thrasher, but is interrupted by pauses and marred by the 

 interpolation of harsh, squeaky, or squawking notes. The phrases 

 may consist of three or four syllables or may be reduced to a single 

 high peep. As we listen we hear such phrases as ''ev^eet^ twit-tujit-twif, 

 rherooeekoo, tereet, eroheet^ involving a wide range of pitch. In tone 

 of voice the song sometimes suggests a vireo in some of its phrases 

 but is much more lively. It has a pleasant whistled quality and at its 

 best approaches the rich tone of the talented robin. 



"When singing, the catbird as a rule is half hidden in the shrubbery, 

 but he sometimes mounts on the top of a bush to sing. He stands with 

 wings drooped, tail hanging low, rump feathers elevated, and body 

 somewhat humped up. Often he turns his head from side to side, and 

 as he sings he opens his bill wide. As he goes on he seems to be trying 

 experiments, perhaps for his own amusement, but we sometimes get 

 an impression that his song is addressed to an audience, perhaps to 

 ourselves, for he often glances over his shoulder as if to say, "How's 

 that?' There appears to be a bit of the clown in the catbird's nature." 



At times the song has a soft ventriloquial character, seeming to 

 come from everywhere about; again it is loud and easily traced to 

 its source. At the approach of any disturbing element the song 

 ceases and the angry catlike mew is uttered, a note that has given 

 origin to the unfortunate name. This note, a petulant cry or snarl, 

 an impolite whine, lazy and drawling, is long-drawn-out with a fall- 

 ing inflection at the end. This call is one of the most outstanding 

 characteristics of its varied song. Often we may be in doubt as to 

 the identity of a certain song if the singer is hidden from view, but 

 when the catbird interrupts its musical phrases with this catcall it 

 at once dispels all uncertainty. 



Another note of the catbird is a harsh, sharply enunciated chatter, 

 rather wrenlike. We may hear this note suddenly rattle out with 

 startling effect from the shrubbery where a bird is hiding or some- 

 times from the air as he flies away. E. P. Bicknell (lS8i) describes 

 one of its characteristic vocal accomplisliments as a short crackling 

 soimd like the snapping of small fagots. E. A. Samuels (1872) 

 writes: "The alarm note is a rattling cry, like the sound of quick 

 breaking of several sticks : it is perhaps well expressed by the syllables 

 trat-tat tat tat uttered very quickly." 



Still another note we hear issuing from the catbird's tangle is a low, 

 mellow chuck, like the soft quack of a duck giving the impression of 

 being uttered way back in the tliroat — a note of minor alarm. K. 

 Hoffmann (1904) describes notes resembling a mellow cluck and oc- 

 casionally a grating chatter, kaJ^-kak-kak. 



Associated with the courtship is a whistled monosyllable, peer, sug- 

 gestive of the notes of the pine grosbeak. 



A. A. Saunders (1929a) writes: 



