CATBIRD. 195 
CATBIRD. 
GALEOSCOPTES CAROLINENSIS. 
CHAR. General color dark slate, paler beneath; top of head and tail 
black ; under tail-coverts chestnut. Length 8 to 9% inches. 
Nest. In thicket or orchard ; bulky, and rudely constructed of twigs, 
leaves, and grass, lined with grass or fine roots. 
£ggs. 4-6; deep bluish green; 0.95 X 0.70. 
This quaint and familiar songster passes the winter in the 
southern extremities of the United States and along the coast 
of Mexico, whence as early as February it arrives in Geor- 
gia. About the middle of April it is first seen in Penn- 
sylvania, and at length leisurely approaches this part of New 
England by the close of the first or beginning of the second 
week in May. ‘These birds continue their migration also to 
Canada, where they proceed into the fur-countries as far as 
the 45th parallel, arriving on the banks of the Saskatchewan 
about the close of May. Throughout this extent and to the 
territory of the Mississippi they likewise pass the period of in- 
cubation and rearing their young. They remain in New Eng- 
land till about the middle of October, at which time the young 
feed principally upon wild berries. 
The Catbird often tunes his cheerful song before the break 
of day, hopping from bush to bush with great agility after his 
insect prey, while yet scarcely distinguishable amidst the dusky 
shadows of the dawn. The notes of different individuals vary 
considerably, so that sometimes his song in sweetness and 
compass is scarcely at all inferior to that of the Ferruginous 
Thrush. A quaintness, however, prevails in all his efforts, and 
his song is frequently made up of short and blended imitations 
of other birds, — given, however, with great emphasis, melody, 
and variety of tone, and, like the Nightingale, invading the 
hours of repose. In the late twilight of a summer’s evening, 
when scarce another note is heard but the hum of the drowsy 
beetle, his music attains its full effect, and often rises and falls 
with all the swell and studied cadence of finished harmony. 
