Catbird 



The catbird is unmistakably a Bohemian. He is ex- 

 quisitely formed, and has a beautiful slate-gray coat, set 

 off by his black head and tail. By nature he is peculiarly 

 graceful, and when he chooses can pass for the most polished 

 of the Philistine aristocracy. But he cares nothing for 

 all this. With lazy self-indulgence he sits by the hour 

 with relaxed muscles, and listlessly drooping wings and 

 tail. If he were a man you feel confident that he would 

 sit in shirt-sleeves at home and go on the street without 

 a collar. 

 FLORENCE A. MERRIAM. Birds Through an Opera Glass. 2 



He is the veriest "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" of birds. 

 Exquisitely proportioned, with finely-poised black head 

 and satin-gray coat, which he bathes most carefully and 

 prunes and prinks by the hour, he appears from his toilet 

 a Beau Brummell, an aristocratic-looking, even dandified 

 neighbor. Suddenly, as if shot, he drops head and tail 

 and assumes the most hang-dog air, without the least 

 sign of self-respect; then crouches and lengthens into a 

 roll, head forward and tail straightened, till he looks like 

 a little, short gray snake, lank and limp. Anon, with a 

 jerk and a sprint, every muscle tense, tail erect, eyes snap- 

 ping, he darts into the air intent upon some well-planned 

 mischief. It is impossible to describe his various attitudes 

 and moods. 



NELTJE BLANCHAN. Bird Neighbors. 23 



The catbird mother is one of the most anxious and 

 devoted. If her nest is discovered, she exhibits so much 

 distress that one sympathetic to bird griefs has no heart 

 to pursue investigations. 



41 



