THE PERCHING BirDs. 51 
a deal of argument about this, but every one who 
disputes my assertion is too lazy to prove it for him- 
self or has not wit enough to reach any conclusion. 
Cat-birds, as we have seen, are migratory. They 
love the sunny south, and are on their way as soon 
as the frosts of October dull the green meadows and 
paint the forest; but of late there have been some 
that are too lazy or have changed their mind. They 
linger now in New Jersey, in sheltered places, few in 
numbers, of course, feeding on the berries of the 
greenbrier. But other food is not denied them. 
The last I saw was scratching, chewink-like, in the 
dead leaves; and there is animal life among these 
even in the depths of winter. This overstaying cat- 
bird did not seem out of place; his fretful cry was 
almost musical, and the confident hop, straight and 
certain flight, and general well-to-do manner quite 
clearly evidenced that the bird was suffering no in- 
convenience. The winter sunshine was good enough 
for him, and well it might be, for he was never with- 
out company. 
So much has been written about the Mocking-bird 
that any detailed account is uncalled for. Essay 
after essay have appeared in magazines; columns of 
newspapers have been given up to discussions con- 
cerning it, and the bird is so common in cages, that 
to merely name it calls up a vivid picture of this 
“prince of song.” 
In Central New Jersey this bird was a regular 
summer visitor fifty years ago, as I find by many 
references to him in unpublished records, and I have 
been informed that about Philadelphia, in the begin- 
