86 EVERYDAY BIRDS 
tail and wings; the bobolink; the red-winged 
blackbird, whose watery conkaree is so welcome 
a sound about the meadows in March; the slate- 
colored snowbird ; the indigo-bird, small, deep blue 
throughout, and with a thick bill; the butcher- 
bird, a constant though not numerous winter vis- 
itor, sometimes flying against windows in which 
canaries are hung, as one did at our house only 
this winter — these surely may be known by any 
who will take even slight pains to form their 
acquaintance. And, beside these, there are two 
birds whom everybody does know, but whom I 
forgot to include with the six first mentioned, — 
the catbird and the brown thrasher, two over- 
grown, long-tailed wrens, near relatives of the 
mockingbird, both of them great singers in their 
way, and one of them — the catbird — decidedly 
familiar and a fairly good mimic. 
