286 WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIEDS. 



and little relish for the simple melodies of nature, who can 

 listen to them without delight. 



" The manners of this species are lively, and at intervals 

 border on the grotesque. It is extremely sensitive, and will 

 follow an intruder to a considerable distance, wailing and 

 mewing as it passes from one tree to another, its tail now 

 jerked and thrown from side to side, its wings drooping and 

 its breast deeply inclined. On such occasions it would fain 

 peck at your hand ; but these exhibitions of irritated feeling 

 seldom take place after the young are sufficiently grown to 

 be able to take care of themselves. In some instances, I 

 have known this bird to recognize at once its friend from its 

 foe, and to suffer the former even to handle the treasure de- 

 posited in its nest, with all the marked assurance of the 

 knowledge it possessed of its safety ; when, on the contrary, 

 the latter had to bear all its anger. The sight of a dog sel- 

 dom irritates it, while a single glance at the wily cat excites 

 the most painful paroxysms of alarm. It never neglects to 

 attack a snake with fury, although it often happens that it 

 becomes the sufferer for its temerity." 



Now if any one who reads all that we have already given 

 in its behalf, still feels his or her sympathies untouched in 

 favor of our loving and heroic Cat-Bird, we would, to such, 

 make one other last appeal in a short passage more from Au- 

 dubon. Those who can resist such traits as we find here de- 

 picted, must weep hailstones for tears, if they ever do weep. 



"The attachment which the cat-bird shows towards its 

 eggs or young, is affecting. It even possesses a humanity, 

 or rather a generosity and gentleness worthy of being more 

 elevated in the scale of nature. It has been known to nurse, 

 feed and raise the young of other species, for which no room 

 could be afforded in their nests. It will sit on its eggs after 

 the nest has been displaced, or even after it has been carried 

 from one bush to another." 



