350 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



cry of fire or murder in the streets is to the inhabitants of a large 

 and populous city. 



" On such occasions of alarm and consternation, the Catbird is 

 the first to make his appearance; not singly, but sometimes a half 

 dozen at a time, flying from different quarters to the spot. At 

 this time, those who are disposed to play with his feelings may 

 almost throw him into fits, his emotion and agitation are so great 

 at the distressful cries of what he supposes to be his suffering 

 young. Other birds are variously affected, but none show symp- 

 toms of such extreme suffering. He hurries backward and for- 

 ward, with hanging wings and open mouth, calling out louder 

 and faster, and actually screaming with distress, till he appears 

 hoarse with his exertions. He attempts no offensive means, but 

 he bewails he implores in the most pathetic terms with which 

 nature has supplied him, and with an agony of feeling which is 

 truly affecting. Every feathered neighbor within hearing has- 

 tens to the place, to learn the cause of the alarm, peeping about 

 with looks of consternation and sympathy. But their own power- 

 ful parental duties and domestic concerns soon oblige each to 

 withdraw. At any other season the most perfect imitations have 

 no effect whatever on him.-' 



In this last statement the present writer can hardly agree with 

 the learned Wilson, for at this time, the very last days of Sep- 

 tember, when only a few of the summer stragglers are left in the 

 north, including a handful of Catbirds, I have seen individuals 

 of the latter exhibit not a little curiosity, at least, when I have 

 vigorously imitated the squeaks given vent to by a young bird 

 that has just been seized upon. They will come some little dis- 

 tance to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and, upon arriv- 

 ing in the neighborhood, will, in a listless manner withal, ac- 

 companied by barely audible and querulous notes, and by slow, 

 lateral movements of the tail, give evidence at least of interest 

 in the supposed trouble. But, as Wilson w r ell remarks, identi- 

 cally the same notes produced in the breeding season will drive 

 every Catbird within hearing nearly out of its senses. 



At other times this bird possesses a song, and a series of pecu- 

 liar notes and semi-imitations quite as full of pathos and interest 

 as are those of some of the very best of our avian performers. 

 He has the greatest confidence in man, and if studied in the way 

 he ought to be, exhibits an hundred and one most interesting 

 traits, and a character peculiar to itself, that under all circum- 



