48 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
homes, and by degrees straggle (if I may use the expression) 
to their winter-haunts.” 
(d). The song of the Cat-birds, which is very much like 
that of the Brown Thrush, is in some respects a striking one, 
for the tone and accent are very marked; and, though some of 
the notes are rather harsh or uncouth, others are very mellow. 
This song is not a definite or limited one, but is repeated for 
several minutes together, from the time of their arrival until 
the summer is nearly over, especially af evening; but it is not 
unfrequently marred or interrupted by the mimicry of others’ 
notes, for, though the Cat-birds 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 Cat-birds 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 algo, prob- 
ably, that instinctive but irrational antipathy, which many 
boys entertain for this bird. 
Ill. HARPORHYNCHUS 
(A) Rurvus. 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. 
(0). 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 
7It is hoped that the anthor will be excused for these digressive remarks by 
those persons who are well acquainted with the facts mentioned. 
