73 



presence he wishes to conceal from others, the song is low and 

 tender, often half smothered, or made to appear in another 

 place. 



The cat birds, which are among the most interesting as well 

 as the most intelligent of the feathered tribe, have in individual 

 instances, probably, arrived at a greater degree of proficiency in 

 this art than any others of the family. They not only imitate 

 well many notes and calls of other birds, but by modulating 

 their tones they are capable of producing great deception in re- 

 gard to their whereabouts. One day while watching some robins 

 and goldfinches bathing together in a little creek, I heard a 

 cat bird warbling very sweetly, but apparently at a great dis- 

 tance away As a treeless meadow lay in the direction from 

 which the song proceeded, I wondered where the bird could be 

 hidden, and sweeping a field glass over the stretch of meadow, I 

 failed to locate him. To my surprise, I finally discovered the singer 

 in a little thorn bush not ten feet from the place where I was 

 standing, though the sound indicated the distance to be many 

 rods. On looking through the bush tangled with vines, I found 

 the mate sitting on her nest of eggs. The male, while singing 

 to her, had been throwing his voice to a distance, evidently to 

 mislead intruders. It was a clear case of ventriloquism exer- 

 cised with a motive, for as soon as he knew the nest was found 

 he flew to an oak some distance off and commenced a loud rol- 

 licking song, moving about from limb to limb, doubtless hoping 

 to divert my attention from the nesting place. 



At least two of the wrens {Troglodytes aedon a.n6. Troglodytes 

 hieiU'Tlis) possess more or less ventriloquial power I remember 

 how I once searched for a winter wren that was singing in a 

 cedar thicket I heard the song first on one side then on 

 another, always seeming to be above me, when in reality the 

 bird was all the time on an upturned root of a little sapling, 

 within plain sight. Several times afterwards I heard this wren 

 go through a similar performance. 



In his "Rambles About Home," Dr. C. C. Abbott relates a 

 very interesting experience on this subject with the yellow- 



