126 FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE. 



air! Hardly is this performance ended when two 

 twittering individuals engage in a momentary " scrap," 

 and away they flit to a neighboring tree. Then a 

 sprightly, rasping little voice is heard, saying : 

 " Chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee ! Chick- a-dee-dee-dee ! " 

 The " chick " is a squeaky whistle, and the " dee-dee " 

 is a rasping, flat note like that of the blue jay. To 

 my ear it has a nasal quality. I have drawn this 

 bird in one of his characteristic positions. He fre- 

 quents the river borders where the trees and bushes 

 bend over the water, so I have sketched with him 

 a bit of the pretty Huron Kiver, near Ann Arbor, 

 Mich., where he can frequently be seen flitting in 

 and out among the shrubbery. 



A still more familiar bird, whose nest is pretty 

 sure to be among the alders or the elder- berry bushes, 

 not far from the highway, is the catbird (Galeoscoptes 

 Carolinensis\ a not very distant relative of the 

 musical thrush. He is almost a uniform slate-gray, 

 his crown and tail being but a trifle blacker ; under 

 his tail and wings is a dark ruddy color. The nest 

 will be found firmly fixed in the crotch of an elder- 

 berry bush, maybe, and in it we will see from three 

 to five deep blue-green eggs without spots. Near by 

 the female is restlessly bobbing in and out among the 

 foliage, flirting her tail and inviting us to move on. 

 I recollect from early boyhood just such a nest, situ- 



