CAT BIRD. . 157 
CAT BIRD.* —TURDUS LIVIDUS. — Fic. 60. 
Muscicapa Carolinensis, Linn. Syst. 328.— Le Gobe-mouche brun de Virginie, 
Briss. ii. 365.—Cat Bird, Catesb. i. 66.-—- Lutham, ii. 333.—Le Moucherolle 
-de Virginie, Buff. iv. 562. — Lucar lividus, apice nigra, The Cat Bird, or Chicken 
- Bird, Bartram, p. 290.— Peale’s Museum, No. 6770. 
ORPHEUS FELIVOX. —Swainson. 
J 
Turdus felivox, Bonap. Synop. p. 75. 
We have here before us a very common and very numerous 
species, in this part of the United States;, and one as well known to 
all classes of people, as his favorite briers, or blackberry bushes. In 
spring or summer, on approaching thickets of brambles, the first 
salutation you receive is from the Cat Bird; and a stranger, unac- 
quainted with its note, would instantly conclude that some vagrant, 
otphan kitten had got bewildered among the briers, and wanted 
assistance ; so exactly does the call of the bird resemble the voice of 
that anima]. Unsuspicious, and extremely familiar, he seems less 
Pad ae of man than almost any other of our summer visitants ; 
for whether in the woods, or in the garden, where he frequently builds 
his nest, he seldom allows you to pass without approaching to pay his 
respects, in his usual way. This humble familiarity and deference, 
from a stranger, too, who comes to rear his young, and spend the 
summer with us, ought to entitle him to a full share of our hospitality. 
Sorry I am, however, to say, that this, in too many instances, is 
cruelly the reverse. Of this I will speak more particularly in the 
sequel, : 
About the 28th of February, the Cat Bird first arrives in the lower 
parts of Georgia from the south, consequently winters not far distant, 
probably in Florida. On the second week in April, he usually reaches 
this part of Pennsylvania, and, about the beginning of May, has 
already succeeded in building his nest. The place chosen for this 
purpose is generally a thicket of briers or brambles, a thorn bush, 
thick vine, or the fork of a small sapling ; no great solicitude is shown 
for concealment, though few birds appear more interested for the 
safety of their nest and young. The materials are dry leaves and 
weeds, small twigs, and fine, dry grass; the inside is lined with the 
fine, black, fibrous roots of some plant. The female lays four, some- 
times five eggs, of a uniform greenish blue color, without any spots. 
They generally raise two, and sometimes three broods in a season. 
In passing through the woods in summer, I have sometimes amused 
* At first sight, this species, singular both in habits and structure, appears to 
range with Brachypus ; but a more minute inspection shows that it will rather stand 
as an aberrant form with Orpheus. ‘The structure of the bill, feet, and tail, are all 
of the latter; while the colors, and their distribution, agrce with Brachypus, par- 
ticularly the rufous vent; that part is a nearly constant mark among the Brachipi, 
being of a different and brighter color, and very generally red or yellow. The true 
Brachipi do not seem to extend to North America; they are chiefly confined to 
Africa, and the warmer countries of India. i 
