CATBIRD ROBIN. 337 



from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, and breeds through all 

 that region, coming north in April and May, and retiring in 

 October to the Southern States. The Thrasher is a song- 

 ster of rich and rare musical endowments. It is sometimes 

 called the "mocking-bird," but does not seem to possess 

 powers of imitation. Its musical faculties are very little 

 inferior to those of the mocking-bird, and many of its com- 

 binations for depth of pathos and emotion are even superior. 

 Mounted on the topmost twig of a tree or bush, his "full 

 heart laboring with instinctive feeling," he pours out his loud, 

 clear notes, in sweet and trilling warbles, or mingled with 

 low, plaintive, and tender tones. They arrive in pairs on 

 the mountain, and their beautiful song is soon heard at the 

 dawn of the morning. 



MIMUS Felivox, (Vieill. ) Catbird. This is a plain bird, of 

 a dark-bluish, or slate color, paler beneath, with a black crown 

 and tail. It is a very common and familiar species, having a 

 migratory range from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, and 

 perhaps farther north. It arrives at the mountain early in 

 April, and is soon actively engaged in nuptial preparations 

 for the coming season of love. It is quick and restless, 

 almost in perpetual motion, darting about the thickets and 

 fences with ceaseless eagerness. It has many fine combina- 

 tions in its song, occasionally getting up a strain of inimitable 

 sweetness, whose enchantment is sometimes broken by its 

 peculiar cat-squall, a noise which has given the bird its name. 

 It possesses something of the faculty of mimicking other 

 birds, and is often heard using notes of their songs 

 mingled with its original lay. On this subject, Nuttall re- 

 marks : "A very amusing individual, which I now describe, 

 began his vocal powers by imitating the sweet and low warble 

 of the song sparrow, as given in the autumn ; and from his 

 love of imitation on other occasions, I am inclined to believe 

 that he possesses no original note of his own, but acquires 

 and modulates the songs of other birds." The catbird leaves 

 the mountain early in September. 



MERTJLA Migratoria, (Linn.) American robin. This is 

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