14 THE O. & O. SEMI-ANNUAL. 
berries, and may also sometimes destroy the eggs of smaller birds. 
In the spring-time it makes its advent in the central part of On- 
tario usually about the beginning of the second week of May and 
departs again in the early part of September, the winter home 
being the region of the Gulf of Mexico and the West India 
Islands. 
I well remember my first acquaintance with the Catbird, and 
the discovery of its nest. The creek which intersected the old 
‘homestead farm, on which were passed my boyhood days, on 
reaching the boundary line of our premises, made a short curve 
back into the woods, which for years after the front portion of 
our farm had been cleared, remained still in a state of primative 
wildness. Here, in the bend, was a thick growth of underwood, 
and in the summer time shaded with a dense foliage. Often out 
of this glen-like spot came strange, wild sounds the causes of 
which we children of the farm were at first too much afraid to 
investigate. At length, one summer day I mustered up courage 
and went down into this wild place. On proceeding, a series of 
kitten-like ‘‘mews” greeted my ears, and I soon discovered the 
authors in a pair of dark-colored birds, near the size of a Robin, 
but with longer tails, who were darting about among the branches 
and evidently much alarmed at my invasion of their retreat. [ 
also soon discovered the reason for their distress in the form of a 
large nest, placed in the forks of a very slender blue beach, which 
upon reaching I found to contain three young birds, a few days 
old, and one greenish-colored egg, the first of this species I had 
ever seen. I felt not a little proud of my adventure and discov- 
ery, and was never afterwards so much afraid of wild-cats. é 
My next acquaintance with the Catbirds was in the beaver 
meadows of North Wallace, especially in the vicinity of Emerald 
Farm, on which I became a resident in the spring of 1865. Here 
I found this species quite common and saw numbers of their nests, 
and their habits and peculiar notes often engaged my attention. 
In coming to Listowel, and continuing my observations of the 
avi-fauna of this section, and beginning my oological collection, 
I found the Catbirds numerous in most of the second growth 
woods, especially where there is an intermingling of evergreen 
shrubs with the second growth ashes and red maples. I have 
also noticed this species in Stanley, on the shores of Lake Huron, 
