THE CAT BIRD. 369 



is the admirable Itirtl now before us. Duriiii;- tlils cxiiibition of liis powers 

 he spreads Ins wings, expands his tail, and tin-ows himself around the cage 

 in all the ecstasy of entiuisiasm, seeming not only to sing, but to dance, 

 keeping time to the measure of his own nuisic. lioth in his native and 

 domesticated state, diu'ing the solenui stillness of night, as soon as the moon 

 rises in silent majesty, he begins his delightful solo, and serenades us the 

 livelon" night with a full display of his vocal powers, making tiie whole 

 neighborhood ring witli his inimitable medley." 



Among the Mimina> is also included the Cat Bird. This, one of the least- 

 liked, soberest-plumaged, modesty-possessed of all our birds, is generally 

 well known in all sections of the continent cast of the jNIissouri River, from 

 the Canadas to the Gidf States. It is distributed in the Middle and North- 

 ern States as a summer resident, arriving in New England and its latitude 

 from the 5th to the l.Jth of May. 



We have said that this bird is not liked by most people ; lint the more 

 attention we have given to the species, the more we are persuaded that this 

 prejudice against it is unjust and uncalled for. As soon as the cat bird 

 arrives in our groves and thickets, we are informed of the fact by its coyisli 

 flittings through the newly-opened foliage, its grotesque motions, as it peers 

 at us as we pass near its sylvan home, and by its song, whicli it utters in 

 spring, from early morn to dewy eve, sometimes several individuals in the 

 same thicket contesting in tuncfid emulation. 



We have often paused to listen to one of these songsters, and have been 

 undecided, and arc to this day, as to whether its notes were imitations of 

 scraps of songs of other birds, as most authors affirm, or its own effusions. 

 The bird perches on the topmost branch of a low tree or shrub, usually in or 

 near a swamp, and with its head elevated, its wings slightly drooping, its 

 tail straight beneath, it pours forth a warljling sulihiipiy, made up ()f a suc- 

 cession of soft, listless notes, then a little trill, tiicn a kind of chatter, then 

 the trill again, f jllowed by the prelude, the whole forming an exceedingly 

 pretty and sweet medley. These notes arc so like tliosc of many other birds 

 that we cannot wonder that observers speak of them as being imitations ; but 

 every individual cat Ijird has a similar song with his neighbor, each being a 

 pleasant little reverie uttered by the bird, just as we whistle or hum a snatch 

 of this air or another as we walk along, without earing or thinking what 

 the music is. In addition to this song, the cat bird has a cry so exactly 

 similar to that of a kitten, that if one who is unacrpiainted with the bird 

 hears it, he can hardly be persuaded that it is not uttered by one of those 

 animals, which has wandered olf into the bushes. And it is perhaps this 

 note that has caused the bird to be disliked. A schoolboy, "just let loose 

 from school," hearing a cry, as if his favorite kitten is calling to him, pene- 

 NO. X. 47 



