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Bird - Lore 



A Nature-Study Composition Based Upon Personal Observation. 



A Catbird's Revenge 



Once, up in the small branches of a tree, there was a cosy little family of 

 Catbirds, including the mother, the father and the yoimg, all as happy as 

 could be. Every morning, the two older ones would go out in search of worms 

 for their babies. But one day, alas! that awful creature with long claws and 

 sharp teeth, called the cat, that filled the young with horror and made the 

 parents tremble, made a visit to that little nest. In a few minutes the happy 

 little family were all destroyed, all save the two older ones. 



CATBIRD ON NEST 



The poor mother, reduced to despair, did not care whether she lived or 

 died, and the prowling cat waited his chance and with one quick spring, he 

 had her in his claws. Now that this family had been killed there was but 

 one thing that the mate thought of and that was revenge. What this poor 

 bird did, he would not [have] dared [to] do if he had not been so enraged. 

 The -cat would be lounging lazily on the ground, when the bird would swoop 

 down from a near fence or tree, pluck [ing] a bill full of fur from the back of 

 his enemy, and then fly quickly away. Try as he would, the cat could not 

 catch the Catbird. He would not let the cat get any rest, and so made the 

 cat's life miserable. — Ogden A. Kelley (age ii years), Chevy Chase, Md. 



A good observation, vivid and connected. The instincts of birds, should not be 

 confused with human emotions. — A. H. W. 



