OUR CATBIRDS. 



In the sunny, sheltered corner of our 

 south porch, hung for several weeks one 

 summer, a cage containing a pair of 

 northern mocking birds, or, as commonly 

 known, Catbirds; and it was a constant 

 wonder among our neighbors to see these 

 birds — so shy and difficult to rear — ap- 

 parently enjoying life to the utmost. 



Contrary to their usual custom, a pair 

 of these birds built their nest in a dwarf 

 evergreen only a few steps from our front 

 door, and hatched their young undis- 

 turbed by the multitude of noises in their 

 vicinity. A few days before we thought 

 the young birds were about to leave the 

 nest, we procured a strong cage with 

 wide waterproof cover and an iron ring 

 in the top. When one day we saw two 

 downy fluttering wee birdlings clinging 

 to a bough of the evergreen, it was but 

 a moment's work to catch them and put 

 them in the cage ready for them. One 

 end of a stout rope was tied in the ring 

 in the top of the cage, the other end 

 thrown over the limb of a huge apple tree 

 close to the kitchen door, the cage care- 

 fully drawn up until the top touched the 

 limb, the end of the rope wound round 

 a hook driven in the body of the tree. 

 There our birds hung, swinging fif- 

 teen feet high in the leafy canopy and 

 flickering sunshine of the old apple tree. 

 What a fuss the old birds did make while 

 this was being done! In a very short 

 time, however, they were feeding their 

 young as unconcernedly as though they 

 were still in the nest. First one and then 

 the other would bring food, perch on the 

 wide, projecting edge around the cage 

 bottom, and fill the little bill that stretched 

 wide and hungrily between the wires. 

 They never made the mistake of feeding 

 the same one twice in succession. One 

 was a greedy little fellow and would have 

 appropriated every morsel. One day he 

 persistently kept pushing the other one 

 aside after he himself had been fed and 

 stood at the front of the cage in a fidget 

 of impatience till the old bird returned. 

 He pushed and crowded and persisted in 



keeping in front of the other. Twice the 

 mother bird flew down in a vain effort 

 to reach her other birdling, and then 

 perched herself on a near twig with the 

 dainty bit still in her bill. The little one 

 scolded and begged, all to no purpose. 

 Finally he gave place to the other, who 

 quickly received the coveted morsel, and 

 sat down in the corner in an unmistakable 

 fit of the sulks. After this a daily im- 

 provement in his table manners was 

 noticeable. Every day the cage was low- 

 ered, cleaned and supplied with soft 

 bread, berries and fresh drinking water; 

 and, after the first few times, the old 

 birds would wait patiently until the cage 

 was again raised, and the young soon 

 ceased to show any signs of fear. Food 

 was put in the cage from the first, that it 

 might be ready at any time when they 

 should begin tO' feed themselves. It was 

 a week or more before they discovered 

 that the berries in the dish were the same 

 things the parent birds gave them; and 

 when one of them found out that he 

 could help himself it was a matter for 

 family rejoicing. 



They were perfectly safe in the big tree, 

 as the wires of the cage hung too far 

 below the limb and afforded too slender 

 a foothold for any marauding cats. Only 

 once were we really alarmed about them. 

 One sultry afternoon the air grew omi- 

 nously still, and then, before we could get 

 the ho'Usedoors and windows closed, a 

 dense darkness swept down, shutting out 

 the sunlight, and with a roar and rush 

 and crash of thunder, the awful storm 

 broke over us. In the hurry to make the 

 dwelling safe we had entirely forgotten 

 the birds, and as a flash of lightning cut 

 across the blinding storm, I saw their 

 little house swaying like a feather in the 

 fierce blast. The storm was of short 

 duration, and at \he first opportunity I 

 ran out, expecting to see them either 

 drowned or dead from fright. Cuddled 

 up on a perch under their little attic roof, 

 I found them high and dry, and serene. 

 Their little shelter had outridden a tem- 



