120 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



can Birds places him in the family turdidae, composed of the 

 thrushes and the sub-family miminse, composed of the mock- 

 ing thrushes. This sub-family, however, is now a sub-family 

 of the family troglodytidse, which, as we have heretofore seen, 

 is composed of the wrens, thrushes, etc. And this is why he 

 has been recognized as the "madcap cousin of the robin and 

 thrush," and is now the cousin in fact of the mocking bird, 

 who in many respects he so much resembles. In his general 

 form, he is slender and graceful. His bill is well shaped, slight- 

 ly arched, and of black color ; eyes, brown ; general plumage 

 above is slaty-gray ; the head, tail and inner webs of the pri- 

 maries being of a brownish black ; cheeks, chin, and under- 

 plumage of a deep bluish-gray, and the under-tail about the 

 vent is a distinct patch of dark chestnut. In appearance the 

 sexes are alike. 



The range of the catbird extends from Panama and Cuba 

 north to British Columbia and Saskatchewan and west rarely 

 to the Pacific Coast States ; breeds from the Gulf States north, 

 and winters from Illinois south. It comes north about the 

 middle of April and returns south about the middle of Oc- 

 tober. Mating begins soon after their arrival north. Gen- 

 erally they rear two and sometimes three broods in a season. 



The nest of the catbird, as Miss Blanchon has well said, 

 "is like a veritable scrap-basket, loosely woven of coarse twigs, 

 bits of newspaper and rags, and this rough exterior is softly 

 lined and made fit to receive the four to six pretty dark green 

 blue eggs to be laid therein." The nest is placed in briars, 

 vines or low bushes not more than five to ten feet from the 

 ground. Those that have been built about our homes have 

 been built in the lilac, syringa and bridle-wreath bushes and 

 the honeysuckle vines. A few years ago I spent the summer 

 at Elmhurst instead of Somerleaze. That summer a pair of 

 catbirds came to our backyard and we became quite well ac- 

 quainted with each other, so much so that they would come 

 to me when I called them. One morning while working in 

 the garden, I noticed that they were hunting a nesting place, 

 and that a crotch in a syringa bush in the corner of the yard 

 seemed to please them. I gathered a handful of leaves, twigs 

 and grass and placed them in the bush to coax them to build 



