DESCRIPTIVE LIST 311 



Mattamuskeet in January, 1910, and Pearson has found it common in winter on 

 the coast at various points from Beaufort southward. 



This bird is one of our most abundant and familiar species in the summer. 

 Thickets along streams, orchards, and low shrubbery seem to delight the Catbird, 

 and in such places it builds its nest in briars, vines, or trees. Rarely the nest is 

 placed in trees fifty or sixty feet from the ground (Pearson and Bruner). The 

 nest is constructed of weed stems, grass, leaves, small twigs, and similar materials. 

 In it are laid some time in the months of May, June, and July three or four deep 

 bluish-green, unmarked eggs. Size .95 x .71. 



FIG. 254. CATBIRD. 



The Catbird is quite an agreeable singer, although frequently mingling with his 

 song unmusical mews and other disagreeable notes. The name is derived from its 

 cat-like calls, and so exact are these imitations in some individuals that C. S. Brim- 

 ley has seen kittens misled by them. 



The food of the Catbird consists of insects and soft fruits, and it is sometimes 

 a pest in one's strawberry patch. C. S. Brimley states that on two or three occa- 

 sions he has found a Cardinal's nest containing freshly broken eggs, which he had 

 strong reasons to believe were attributable to a Catbird's depredations. 



Genus Toxostoma (Wagl.) 



317. Toxostoma rufum (Linn.). BROWN THRASHER. 



Description. Upperparts, wings, and tail rufous; wing-coverts tipped with whitish; under- 

 parts white (buffy in fall), heavily streaked with black or cinnamon, except on throat and middle 

 of belly. L., 11.42; W., 4.06; T., 5.03; B., .96. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. Eastern North America, wintering in southern United States. 



Range in North Carolina. Whole State in summer, wintering regularly in the eastern section, 

 and irregularly in the central portion. 



The Thrasher, "Brown Thrush," or "Rusty Mockingbird," is a common summer 

 resident throughout North Carolina, reaching us from the south about the end of 

 March or the beginning of April, and usually departing in October. In most parts 

 of the State a few appear to pass the winter. Pearson found one at Chapel Hill, 

 Orange County, on January 2, 1899, and in the eastern section it is resident the 

 entire year. 



