‘TENTH ORDINARY MEETING. ote 99° 
eften seen’ with the Thrush and other fruit loving birds in oar 
gardens later in the year—the Cat Bird, Mimus Carolinensis ‘Its | 
eurious harsh mewing like a cat, which it utters when alarmed, has 
earned for it the specific name of Felivox from some authors, which 
is certainly much more appropriate than Carolinensis. “Nevertheless 
the Cat Bird is possessed of vocal powers which entitle it almost to 
be called the Canadian Mocking bird, for I have heard it imitate the 
notes of the Thrush and a host of other birds, and it will sometimes 
pour forth its “mocking” song until long after the sun has gone down. 
Before the end of May the Wood Thrush, 7urdus Mustelinus, | 
and Wilson’s Thrush, (Veery) Zurdus Fuscescens, have ‘arrived and 
their song may be heard in the woods at break of day and the 
last thing towards evening; and in the fields the sweet notes of 
the Meadow Lark, Sturnella Magna, are now mingled with the 
voices of the Song Sparrow and Baywing. 
That bold and handsome bird the King Bird, 7'yrannus Curo- 
linensis, may be seen perched on some fence post, or outbuilding, or 
tall tree, ready to give battle to birds twice his own size, and espe- 
cially to the Crow, to which he seems to have a special dislike. The ~ 
various species of Fly Catcher, which come to us in summer, have 
now all arrived, and the Wood Pecker tribe, Golden wing and scarlet 
headed and others, are to be met everywhere as you pass through 
the fields and woods; but I must not go on with my catalogue any 
further, for I have already exceeded my proper limits in tlis paper, 
and I shall conclude with noticing a bird that may not be so familiar 
to many of you, which is always associated with the glowing heat of 
summer, when except in the early freshness of the morning the 
songsters of the grove are comparatively silent. It is then that 
from the deep shade of the woods, or from some cool thicket near our 
gardens, even during the hottest hours of the day, comes the soft but 
monotonous Coo-coo of the Coccygus Americanus, the yellow. billed 
Cuckoo. It and the black billed Cuckoo, Coccygus Erythrophthal- 
mus, which is very similar in its habits, though the latter is, perhaps, 
not quite such a shy bird as the yellow billed, frequents our woods 
ali through the summer, and unlike the European bird, show mach 
eare and affection in bringing up their young, although their nest 1s 
rather a careless fabric, being composed of a few dry twigs, mixed 
with weeds and grass, and with, so little concavity as sometimes to. 
endanger the safety of its young. — 
