( 440 ) 

 CAT BIRD. 



TURDUS FELIVOX, ViEILL. 

 PLATE CXXVIII. Vol. II. p. 171. 



I FOUND this species abundant in the Texas, where it breeds. The 

 eggs measure almost an inch in length, and three-fom-ths in breadth, 

 and are of an oval form, well rounded at both ends. According to Dr 

 TowNSEND, it is not found on the Missovu-i or on the Rocky Moimtains. 

 " Although only here and there met with in Maine, it is yet found in 

 the greater part, if not the whole, of that State. It exists in New 

 Hampshire and Vermont, as far to the north as the Canada line, and 

 even breeds there, as its eggs have been sent me from the town of Co- 

 ventry, which is but a few miles from the border. How much farther 

 north they are to be found I cannot say. The Cat Bird, like its re- 

 latives, the Robin and Brown Thrush, cannot be induced to sit upon 

 eggs which do not belong to it, even if they be eggs of the same spe- 

 cies, but will invariably, I believe, remove them from the nest. It is 

 also strongly attached to its own eggs, so much so as to follow the 

 nest when it has been taken down, and even to take possession of it 

 again, although left at a great distance from the place in which it was 

 built." This notice is from Dr T. M. Brewer of Boston. 



The structure of the mouth is as in the Mocking Bird ; its width 

 5i twelfths. The tongue is 5 twelfths long, with the point slit. The 

 oesophagus is 2 inches 11 twelfths long, its greatest width 3 twelfths, 

 without any remarkable dilatation. The stomach is broadly elliptical, 

 7^ twelfths long, Q\ twelfths broad ; its muscles pretty large, the lower 

 however very thin, the tendons roundish ; the epithelium as in the 

 other species, with prominent longitudinal rugae. The intestine is 7^ 

 inches long, from 3 twelfths to 1| twelfth in width. The coeca are 2\ 

 twelfths long, 1^ twelfth in width, 1 inch distant from the extremity ; 

 the cloaca ovate, 4^ twelfths wide. 



The trachea is 1 inch 10 twelfths long, moderately flattened ; the 

 rings firm, 75 in number; the bronchial half rings about 15. The 

 muscles are as in the other Thrushes ; the inferior laryngeal pretty 

 large and well defined. 



