408 NOTES ON THE 



Family TBOGLODYTID^. 



GALEOSCOPTES CAROLINENSIS (L). (704.) 



CATBIRD. 



In a ride of fifteen miles to Lake Minnetonka, I have counted 

 very nearly one hundred birds of this species in a mornings' 

 hour and a half, many a time in the years gone by. And those 

 singly, not exceeding two, or at most three, being in any one 

 locality. The males arrive in parties of five or six, (never 

 many more), about the 25th of April, and are followed in from 

 three to five days by the females similarly associated, after 

 which they are constantly seen, but not much heard for nearly 

 two weeks, when the sexes begin to be moved towards each 

 other by the instincts of reproduction, which arouses the 

 highest energies and activities of their natures to a new meas- 

 ure of bird life. At that season their harsh calls are heard 

 from every thicket along the way, or down by the creek at the 

 border of the woods, through all the hours of the lengthening 

 days. When the building of the nests begins, the conjugal 

 relationships having become settled, a brief period of reticence 

 intervenes, during which they are seldom heard but constantly 

 seen carrying materials for the construction of the nest. How- 

 ever even at this time, the really early riser will hear the 

 almost matchless song of the males as they pour it forth from 

 the topmost twig of some large bush or sapling. Wilson must 

 have been unfortunate in the hours chosen in which to listen 

 to its exquisite notes, for he says: "His notes are more 

 remarkable for singularity than for melody. They consist of 

 short imitations of other birds, and other sounds; but, his pipe 

 being rather deficient in clearness and strength of tone, his 

 imitations fail where these are requisite. Yet he is not easily 

 discouraged, but seems to study certain passages with greater 

 perseverance; uttering them at first low, and as he succeeds, 

 higher and more free, nowise embarrassed by the presence of 

 a spectator, even within a few yards of him. On attentively 

 listening to him for some time, one can perceive considerable 

 variety in his performance, in which he seems to introduce all 

 the old sounds and quaint passages he has been able to collect. 

 Upon the whole, though, we cannot arrange him with the 

 grand leaders of our vernal choristers, he well merits a place 

 among the most agreeable of general performers." 



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