BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 409 
Now, I am conscious of, and credited with having, a very 
critical ear for sound and melody of all sorts of descriptions; 
and I do not hesitate to say that for clearness, sweetness, 
richness of tone, and inexpressible variety of modulation, from 
piano to forte in volume, he is peerless among American birds. 
But [ thought myself perfectly acquainted with the Catbird 
for at least twenty-five years before I was permitted to know 
his full powers of song, and then by the accident of an early 
ride through his most favored haunts while the female was 
sitting on her eggs. The famous Brown Thrush can be heard 
further, and I have once detected as many as twenty-two differ- 
ent modifications in a singie outpouring of his melodies, yet 
the other excels him in everything except his volume of sound. 
Wilson is ‘‘away off” in his descriptions and interpretations of 
this unique songster. There is indisputably a bitter prejudice 
against the Catbird, originating in his disfavor among farm. 
ers, or perhaps I should say gardeners, and unfortunately 
aggravated by the harshness of his ordinary call and caution 
note, to which I must add the infelicity of his vernacular 
name. ‘‘There isa great dealin the name.” They continue 
their songs in the early morning, sometimes until after sun- 
rise, and at sunset in the evening, during the entire summer 
except in a brief period of moulting following the period of 
nidification. 
They build their nests about the 20th of May, unless the sea- 
son is exceptionally late, although I have found pairs doing so 
as late as the first week in June occasionally. They are lo- 
cated in bushes, and generally about five feet from the ground, 
The platform consisting of sticks and twigs. Upon this sub- 
structure, firmly secured, rests the somewhat bulky nest proper 
consisting of bark, twigs, leaves and straws or dried grass, and 
lined with hairs and fibrous roots, sometimes with fine grass. 
Itis deeply hollowed. There are usually four, occasionally 
five eggs of a deep emerald-green of a very symmetrical ovate 
form. The Catbird may thankfully rest on the generous 
verdict of his true friend Dr. Coues as to his merits and demer- 
its, as given in his Birds of the Colorado Valley, pages 56-60. I 
cannot refrain from repeating a few of the closing paragraphs 
in his amusing defence of this bird. ‘‘Explain him as we may, 
the Catbird is inseperable from home and homely things. He 
reflects as he is reflected in domestic life. The associations, it 
is true, are of an humble sort, but they are just as strong as 
those which link us with the trusty Robin, the social Swallow, 
