BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
9 
Plate III. 
ME\IUS CAROLINENSIS, Gray. 
Cat-BirJ. 
The Cat-Bird is one of_tlie most common and conspicuous of all 
our feathered visitants. It reaches the United States from its Central 
American home, on or about the 15th of April, and thence diffuses itself 
over the whole country, northward as far as the Saskatchewan, and west- 
ward to the Rocky Mountains. 
Immediately upon its arrival, it seeks the shelter of dense woods, or 
the security of waste fields and bramble-ridden hedges. In such situa- 
tions, among the dead leaves that lie scattered njion the ground, it gleans 
a well-earned subsistence. But later, when the leaves begin to appear, 
and with them an abundance of insect-life, these retreats are deserted by 
a few venturesome individuals, and an abiding-place is sought amid the 
quiet scenes of rural gardens. 
A week or ten days, however, elajise before the sexes are ready to 
assume conjugal relations. Being vigorous feeders, and living in the 
midst of plenty, they are seemingly all unconscious of the better and 
nobler instincts of their being. But feeding eventually satisfies appe- 
tite, and conduces to the awakening of the amatory forces from their 
hitherto dormant condition. The males, by their altered demeanor, are 
the first to show signs of change. We no longer observe them engaged 
in the pursuit of the juicy caterpillar, or the gilded butterfly, with the 
same energy and zest as before. Their aims are higher, their aspirations 
loftier. Perched upon a small tree, or screened from observation by dense 
clumps of hushes, Avith heads bent skyAvard, they startle the echoes of 
Avoodland and Amlley Avith their strange, ecstatic music. But the 
