CATBIRD. 



Catbird The Catbird, from the musical point of 



(triieo*c<>pf'-x v j eWj j g tne northern representative of the 

 L'S.W inches Mockingbird. His song is only remarkable 

 May 8th for its splendid style; neither in melody 



nor rhythm (excepting its characteristic hesitancy or 

 interruption) does it show any adherence to rule. 



The colors of the bird are rather sombre. Top of head 

 and tail sooty black; general coloring slate-gray; under 

 tail-coverts chestnut, or burnt sienna of a ruddy tone; 

 eyes brown. Female similarly colored. Nest built in 

 the Y branches of small trees or shrubbery often the 

 lilac and elderberry; it is bulky, loosely woven with 

 twigs, roots, grasses, etc., and lined with finer rootlets 

 and grasses. Egg deep blue-green, unspotted. 



This bird is common throughout North America; it 

 breeds in the eastern United States from the Gulf States 

 northward to New Brunswick and the Saskatchewan, 

 and winters from Florida southward. 



There is a certain lawless freedom to the song of the 

 Catbird which invests it with a character essentially 

 wild. The bird does not appear to entertain any regard 

 for set rhythm; he proceeds with a series of miscellane- 

 ous, interrupted sentences which bear no relationship 

 with one another. The fact is, he is an imitator, and 

 possibly does not know himself exactly what he is talk- 

 ing about, or what impression he will embody in "the 

 next line." He can imitate anything from a squeaking 

 mr! -wheel to the song of a Thrush. He intersperses his 

 melodic phrases with quotations from the highest au- 

 thorities Thrush, Song Sparrow, Wren, Oriole, and 

 Whip-poor-will! The yowl of the cat is thrown in any- 

 where, the guttural remarks of the frog are repeated 

 without the slightest deference to good taste or appro- 

 priateness, and the harsh squawk of the old hen, or the 

 chirp of the lost chicken, is always added in some mal- 

 d IH-<>I)OS manner. All is grist which comes to the 

 Catbird's musical mill, and all is ground out according 

 to tin- bird's own way of thinking. 



To set his music on paper in a thoroughly complete 

 manner one would need to write the score of Nature's 

 orchestra, and a correct record of the scope of his voice 



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