CATBIRDS 581 



in depth outside by one and a half inside, the diameter 

 externally is four and internally two and three-quarters inches. 

 When found, June 2, 1894, it contained four eggs measuring 

 1.01 X 0.71, 0.98 X 0.70, 0.94 x 0.68, 0.99 x 0.71. The eggs 

 are a deep bluish green, unspotted. Four to six, more often 

 five is the usual number laid. 



The male bird helps build the nest, and from seven to eleven 

 days is required for nest construction. An egg is laid each 

 day until the set is completed, and both birds share the duties 

 of incubation. The eggs hatch in thirteen to fifteen days and 

 the young remain in the nest about sixteen days. I have 

 known the male bird to engage in song while on the nest and 

 to keep it up for some minutes at a time Both parents feed 

 the young, and in July a second brood is generally reared. 

 They remove and even eat the excrement voided by the young 

 birds. The food of both adults and young consists of insects, 

 such as beetles, caterpillars, grubs, flies, moths and similar 

 things, gleaned from the foliage of the trees, from the ground 

 and even caught in the air, while all kinds of native berries 

 and fruits are also highly relished. Garden berries and fruits 

 are occasionally molested to some degree, but are more than 

 paid for by the insects these birds consume. ^, .fe- Ij 



In habits the birds are rather secretive, uttering their cat- 

 like cry from the depths of a bush or thicket when disturbed, 

 an occasional glimpse being caught of them as they hop from 

 bush to bush, flirting their tails or expanding them as they 

 dive across an open space in the bushes. The male bird sings 

 for several minutes at a time, and more or less frequently as 

 the spirit moves him, perhaps more often in early morning 

 and late afternoons than at other times. He perches in or 

 near the top of some bush in a thicket where he can see 

 and still be well concealed. Then he pours out his melody 

 of song, closely akin to but not so refined as that of the Mock- 

 ingbird, for the Catbird's song is often interrupted by the 

 cat-like call or mew, interspersed with snatches of song and 



