166 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



nivorous lie is, eating his own weight in an incredibly 

 short time, and that Nature seems exhaustless in her inven- 

 tion of new insects hostile to vegetation, perhaps we may 

 reckon that he does more good than harm. For my part, 

 I would rather have his cheerfulness and kind neighbor- 

 hood than many berries. 



G. For his cousin, the cat-bird, I have a still warmer re- 

 gard. Always a good singer, ho sometimes nearly equals 

 the brown thrush, and has the merit of keeping up his 

 music later in the evening than any bird of my familiar 

 acquaintance. Ever since I can remember, a pair of them 

 have built in a gigantic syringa near our front door, and 

 I have known the male to sing almost uninterruptedly, 

 during the evenings of early summer, till twilight darkened 

 into dark. They differ greatly in vocal talent, but all have 

 a delightful way of crooning over, and, as it were, rehears- 

 ing their song in an undertone, which makes their near- 

 ness always unobtrusive. Though there is the most trust- 

 worthy witness to the imitative propensity of this bird, I 

 have only once, during an intimacy of more than forty years, 

 heard him indulge it. In that case the imitation was by no 

 means so close as to deceive, but a free reproduction of the 

 notes of some other birds, especially of the oriole, as a kind 

 of variation of his own song. 



7. The cat-bird is as shy as the robin is familiar. Only 

 when his nest or his fledglings are approached does he be- 

 come noisy and aggressive. I have known him to station 

 his young in a thick cornel-bush, on the edge of the rasp- 

 berry-bed, after the fruit began to ripen, and feed them 

 there for a week or more. In such cases he shows none of 

 that conscious guilt which the robin shows. On the con- 

 trary, he will maintain his post in the thicket, and sharply 

 scold the intruder who ventures to steal his berries. After 

 all, his claim is only for tithes, while the robin will bag 

 your entire crop if he gets a chance. 



