TENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 99 



often seen with the Thrush and other fruit loving birds in our 

 gardens later in the year — the Cat Bird, Mimus Carolinensis Its 

 curious harsh mewing like a cat, which it utters when alarmed, has 

 eai-ned for it the specific name of Felivox from some authors, which 

 is certainly much more appropriate than Carolinensis. Nevertheless 

 the Cat Bird is possessed of vocal powers which entitle it almost to 

 be called the Canadian Mocking bird, for I have heard it imitate the 

 notes of the Thrush and a host of other birds, and it will sometimes 

 pour forth its "mocking" song until long after the sun has gone down. 



Before the end of May the Wood Thrush, Turdus Mustelinus, 

 and Wilson's Thrush, (Yeery) Turdus Fuscescens, have arrived and 

 their song may be heard in the woods at break of day and the 

 last thing towards evening ; and in the fields the sweet notes of 

 the Meadow Lark, Sturnella Magna, are now mingled with the 

 voices of the Song Sparrow and Baywing. 



That bold and handsome bird the King Bird, Tyrannus Caro- 

 linensis, may be seen perched on some fence post, or outbuilding, or 

 tall tree, ready to give battle to birds twice his own size, and espe- 

 cially to the Crow, to which he seems to have a special dislike. The 

 various species of Fly Catcher, which come to us in summer, have 

 now all arrived, and the Wood Pecker tribe, Golden wing and scarlet 

 headed and others, are to be met everywhere as you pass through 

 the fields and woods ; but I must not go on with my catalogue any 

 further, for I have already exceeded my proper limits in this paper, 

 and I shall conclude with noticing a bird that may not be so familiar 

 to many of you, which is always associated with the glowing heat of 

 summer, when except in the early freshness of the morning the 

 songsters of the grove are comparatively silent. It is then that 

 from the deep shade of the woods, or from some cool thicket near our 

 gardens, even during the hottest hours of the day, comes the soft but 

 monotonous Coo-coo of the Coccygus Americanus, the yellow billed 

 Cuckoo. It and the black billed Cuckoo, Coccygus Erythroj)hthal- 

 mus, which is very similar in its habits, though the latter is,' perhaps, 

 not quite such a shy bird as the yellow billed, frequents our woods 

 all through the summer, and unlike the European bird, show much 

 care and affection in bringing u]) their young, although their nest is 

 rather a careless fabric, being composed of a few dry twigs, mixed 

 with weeds and grass, and with so little concavity as sometimes to 

 endanger the safety of its young. 



