CATBIRD 



May 4, 1894 

 April 27, 189 6 

 May 8, 1897 



I THINK each year that I have learned 

 all the catbird's odd ways, but each 

 spring as he returns he surprises me with 

 some new vagaries either in song or be- 

 havior. He seems to revel in the un- 

 expected. 



May 30 1895. At 2 130 this morning 

 I woke up and the first sound I heard was 

 the soft singing of a catbird in the trees 

 across the field. It sounded strange in the 

 darkness of the night, and the strangest 

 part of it was that he kept on singing in a 

 broken, meditative sort of way for a full 

 hour. By that time the first streaks of 

 dawn began to appear, and the chorus of 

 other birds drowned his voice. 



[38] 



