CATBIRD 343 



In some cases the second or third nest is built before ttie young of the 

 previous nest are out and in such cases the song is not resumed. The average 

 date for cessation of song in 14 years in Allegany State Park, N. Y., is July 28 

 with the latest date August 11, 1940. In Connecticut it seems to last a 

 little longer and in the Adirondacks I did not hear it after July 4. This bird 

 rarely sings in the fall, and then the song is generally primitive, that is, 

 faint, whispered, and rather indefinite in form. I have heard it October 22, 

 1927, September 24 and October 9, 1932, September 3 and 5, 1937, and October 

 8, 1939. 



Francis H. Allen writes (MS.) that in September lie lias heard 

 a catbird utter a note resembling chip-tit^ the last syllable very 

 short and fainter than the other, coming like a sort of echo of the 

 first. Mr. Allen has also recorded the notes of the young as follows : 

 "From young able to fly well, a sharp high-pitched chippering note 

 with something of a thrill to it at times. It suggests a familiar 

 note of the slate-colored junco. Also from the young a coarse chip 

 suggestive of the scarlet tanager. They utter a very warblerlike pssp 

 when begging for food, a note that changes from day to day to a 

 chip or hick. Then again they utter a high pitched /ee." 



Enemies. — Because of the nature of the usual nesting site, a situa- 

 tion in low dense often marshy thickets and usually near the ground, 

 the catbird frequently becomes a victim of various species of snakes. 

 C. J. Clarke (1915) relates an experience at Lenox, Mass., in 

 which a milksnake was found to have swallowed a newly hatched 

 catbird, which it had taken from a nest. The victim was rescued 

 and, though rather the worse for its adventure, was still alive and 

 was carefully returned to the nest. The next day the youngster 

 was still alive, with a third fledgling in the place of one of the eggs 

 he had noted the day before. Hugh Spencer (1928) writes of the 

 persistence of a blacksnake in taking the young from a catbird's 

 nest at Chester, Conn. A member of the family called his attention 

 to a blacksnake that was robbing the nest. He arrived just in 

 time to see the big snake departing while the parents and several 

 other birds cried and scolded. He was unable to get to the nest, 

 which was in a low swamp huckleberry bush surrounded by a thicket 

 of wild-rose brambles. Two young remained. He returned to his 

 work, and in a short time the clamor arose again, but by the time 

 he reached the nest another young had been taken. The experience 

 was repeated, but the snake was frightened, leaving the last young 

 dying on the ground. R. T. Morris (1925) writes of seeing a black- 

 snake suspended loosely among the branches of a tree with its head 

 within a few inches of a catbird's nest. It was being violently at- 

 tacked by four catbirds, two kingbirds, a male oriole, and a wren 

 that had come to help the catbirds in distress. The bird mob won 

 the battle, and the snake was driven away. The catbirds continued 



