158 BY-WAVS AND BIRD-NOTES. 
The nest of the brown-thrush is a straggling 
mass of twigs, roots, bark, leaves, and weed- 
stems, carelessly tumbled into a crotch near 
the ground, or on the flat projection of a fence- 
rail, sometimes even on the ground. Its eggs 
are delicately pretty, whitish or pale green, 
flecked thickly with brown, from four to six 
in number. 
North of the Cumberland Range of Mount- 
ains, the brown-thrush is migratory; but in 
parts of Tennessee and North Georgia I have 
found it a permanent resident, especially in 
the brushy valleys. It is a hardier bird than 
the mocking-bird. 
The cat-bird (what a name!) is one of the 
finest singers in the world—beautiful, too; 
but, for some mysterious reason, under a ban 
of disgrace and contempt throughout its wide 
habitat. You may know him by his dark 
slate-colored coat and gray vest, his black cap 
and chestnut-brown under tail-coverts, as well 
as by his peculiar cat-like mew when irritated. 
He is a lyrist of the dense thickets and brier 
tangles, the musical deity of our blackberry 
jungles and dois d’arc hedges. His song re- 
sembles that of the brown-thrush, but it is 
slenderer and keener, trickling through the 
leaves in a tenuous stream with ripples as 
light as air. 
The nest of this species is well constructed, 
hung low, and its eggs are of a lovely deep 
greenish blue. 
The cardinal-grosbeak is one of our Ameri- 
can songsters, which, though much persecuted 
by fanciers and imprisoned in cages, is not 
justly appreciated. His brilliant red plumage 
and smart manners have been much better 
