THE CANADIAN MOCKING-BIRD 141 



smaller, and the anxious mother is terribly distressed 

 if an intruder ventures near. 



These summer residents vary their diet with the 

 changing seasons. On their first arrival they explore 

 the naked thickets and evergreens, and hurry over 

 the ground and among the leaves in search of insects. 

 Beetles, Spiders, Worms, Ants, Grasshoppers, in fact 

 all kinds of insects, are eagerly gathered. The birds 

 often pause to sing at their work or to perform some 

 extravagant antics for the entertainment of a visitor. 

 When the young nestlings demand food the mother is 

 unceasing in the pursuit of insects, and is said to be so 

 energetic that she will assist in feeding the young in 

 other nests. If the Mulberries ripen sufficiently early 

 the nestlings are treated to their full share of the new 

 delicacies, and as the season advances and the fruit 

 becomes more tempting the insect diet is almost 

 entirely abandoned. Then the valuable service of 

 the earlier season is forgotten, and the Catbird is in- 

 considerately declared a thief and a vagabond. But 

 friendship and affection are superior alike to the evil 

 reports of busy tongues and the deliberate condemna- 

 tion of the gravest judges. Friends who have listened 

 to the varied songs of the Catbird in the evenings of 

 early spring or watched his amusing activity in the 

 naked shrubbery will freely forgive his depredations 

 and reserve for him a favoured place among the guests 

 of summer. 



