54 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



in the construction of the nest ; and as incubation progresses the female, who 

 rarely leaves the nest, is supplied with food, and entertained from his ex- 

 haustless vocabulary of song, by her mate. When annoyed by an intruder 

 the cry of the Catbird is loud, harsh, and unpleasant, and is supposed to 

 resemble the outcry of a cat, and to this it owes its name. This note it 

 reiterates at the approach of any object of its dislike or fear. 



The food of the Catbird is almost exclusively the larvae of the larger 

 insects. Tor these it searches both among the branches and the fallen 

 leaves, as well as the furrows of newly ploughed fields and cultivated gar- 

 dens. The benefit it thus confers upon the farmer and the horticulturist 

 is very great, and can hardly be overestimated. 



The Catbird can with proper painstaking be raised from the nest, and 

 when this is successfully accomplislted they become perfectly domesticated, 

 and are very amusing pets. 



They construct their nests on clusters of vines or low bushes, on the 

 edges of small thickets, and in retired places, though almost always near 

 cultivated ground. The usual materials of their nests are dry leaves for the 

 base, slender strips of long dry bark, small twigs, herbaceous plants, fine 

 roots, and finer stems. They are lined with fine dry grasses, and sedges. 

 Their nests average 4 inclies in height by 5 in diameter. The diameter and 

 depth of the cavity are 3| inches. The eggs are of a uniform deep bluish- 

 green, and measure .97 in length and .69 of an inch in breadth. 



