CATBIRD. 19 



orchard that slopes down to the edge of Mill 

 River. Here he is welcomed every year by his 

 college girl friends ; and in the open seclusion of 

 an apple-tree proceeds to build his nest and raise 

 his little family, singing through it all with keen 

 enjoyment of the warm sunshine and his own com- 

 pany. 



To the tyro the catbird is at once the most in- 

 teresting and most exasperating of birds. Like 

 some people, he seems to give up his time to the 

 pleasure of hearing himself talk. A first cousin 

 of the mocking-bird whom he resembles in per- 

 son much more than in voice perhaps the re- 

 lationship accounts for his overweening confidence 

 in his vocal powers. As a matter of fact his jerky 

 utterance is so harsh that it has been aptly termed 

 asthmatic. 



The catbird is unmistakably a Bohemian. He 

 is exquisitely 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 con- 

 fident that he would sit in shirt sleeves at home 

 and go on the street without a collar. 



And his occupation ? His cousin is an artist, 

 but he is he a wag as well as a caricaturist, or 



