CHAPTER VIII. 



MINUTE OBSERVATIONS ON CATBIRDS. 



WHILE the Catbird has a strong attachment for its young, especially during later 

 da3-s of life at the nest, when any intrusion will arouse its fighting instinct to 

 the highest pitch, it is under ordinary conditions exceedingly wary, suspicious, 

 and hard to approach. In the account which follows I shall describe only what was seen 



while camping beside two nests of these 



birds. 



The first of these attractive nests 

 rested on a spray of the sweet viburnum, 

 in a little clearing in dense bushes, and 

 about four feet from the ground, so that 

 no change in its position was necessary. 

 It contained a single addle egg and two 

 young with the feather-shafts of the wings 

 barely exposed. 



For an hour or more after the tent 

 was in position, the old birds kept up a 

 perpetual din, in which their exasperat- 

 ing tsliaying note was most pronounced. 

 They would circle round and round the 

 tent, often coming close as if to discover 

 the way in, or fluttering and screaming 

 at it, as if it were a demon to be e.xor- 

 cised. After this they gradually' became 

 more quiet, and began to alight on the 

 tent's guys and roof. At last the female 

 was seen stealthily to approach and 

 quickly feed her young. After a fresh re- 

 connaissance both birds went to the nest 

 together and with rapid, jerky move- 

 ments stuffed red cherries into the hun- 

 gry throats, inspected and cleaned each 

 young bird, and then darted away. 



While in a state of mind wavering 

 between fear and assurance, the Catbird 



Fig. 66. Female Catbird bringing in a large limp dragon-fly 

 — the Aeschna hcros 



76 



