HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 331 



Georgia. About the middle of April tliej are first 

 seen in Pennsylvania, and at length leisurely approach 

 this part of Xew England, by the close of the first or 

 beginning of the second week in May. They con- 

 tinue their migration also to Canada ; where they 

 proceed into the fur-countries as far as the 45th 

 parallel, arriving on the banks of the Saskatchewan, 

 about the close of May. They are said also to in- 

 habit Kamtschatka, and consequently penetrate very 

 far to the north. Throughout this extent, and to the 

 territory of the Mississippi, they likewise pass the 

 period of incubation and rearing their young. They 

 remain in New England till about the middle of Octo- 

 ber, at which time the young feed principally upon 

 wild berries. 



The Cat-Bird often tunes his cheerful song before 

 the break of day, hopping from bush to bush, with 

 great agility after his insect prey, while yet scarcely 

 distinguishable amidst the dusky shadows of the dawn. 

 The notes of difi*erent individuals vary considerably, 

 so that sometimes his song, in sweetness and compass, 

 is scarcely at all inferior to that of the ferruginous 

 thrush. A quaintness, however, prevails in all his 

 efforts, and his song is frequently made up of short 

 and blended imitations of other birds, given however, 

 with great emphasis, melody, and variety of tone; 

 and, like the nifchtinfjale, invadin^j the hours of re- 

 pose, in the late twilight of a summer's evening, when 

 scarce another note is heard, but the hum of the 

 drowsy beetle, his music attains its full effect, and 

 often rises and falls with all the swell and studied 

 cadence of finished harmony. During the heat of 

 the day, or late in the morning, the variety of his 



