THRUSHES. ^ 45 



notes, for, though the Catbirds do not possess the wonderful 

 powers of the Mocking-birds, yet they are clever mimics, imi- 

 tating Quail, Pewees, Least Flycatchers, and even Hens, with 

 great exactness. I have been more than once deluded by these 

 musicians into the belief that I distinctly heard birds whose 

 presence I justly but little expected in the places where I have 

 thus been momentarily deceived. The Catbirds have a mellow 

 chuck, a chattered alarm-note, which I am inclined to think that 

 they seldom use, and a familiar harsh cry, which resembles the 

 " mew " of a cat, whence their common name, and also, prob- 

 ably, that instinctive but irrational antipathy which many 

 boys entertain for this bird. 



III. HARPORH7NCHXTS. 



A. RUFUS. Brown Thrush. " Song Thrush." 

 " Thrasher." " Mavis." A common summer resident in 

 southern New England.* 



a. About eleven inches long. Above, bright reddish 

 brown ; below, white (or tinged), streaked with dark brown, but 

 throat unmarked. Wings with white bars. Tail very long. 



h. The nest is placed in a bush (occasionally in a tree, 

 such as the cedar) or on the ground ; never far from it. When 

 placed in a bush, sticks are generally used in its construction ; 

 in all situations the nest being usually composed, wholly or 

 partly, of strips of cedar bark and the like, together with dead 

 leaves and similar substances. The eggs are dirty white, cov- 

 ered with very numerous and minute light brown markings, 

 and average 1.05 X .80 of an inch, or more. One specimen 

 is slightly tinged with green. In eastern Massachusetts, two 

 sets of these eggs (containing four or five) are laid every year, 

 the first of which commonly appears in the last week of May, 

 though sometimes exceptionally in the second week. 



c. Not only do the notes of the Brown Thrush bear a 

 strong resemblance to those of the Catbird, but their habits 



* A common summer resident in lower and more cultivated portions of 



aontheTn New England, where it is very the country. Its times of arrival and 



generally distributed. To the north departure correspond closely with those 



of Massachusetts it is found only spar- of the Catbird. — W. B. 

 ingly and more or less locally, in the 



