CATBIRD 



125 



yard or two of floss partly crocheted by some 

 little girl's hook, half a magazine page, a strip 

 of rag, and a paper doll's dress! — just a little 

 of everything, one would say, that could be found 

 on the farm. 



Something of the same capricious collecting 

 habit enters into the Catbird's song; he gathers 

 a bit of everything into it. 

 He begins in a fine musical 

 tone, like a silver violin, to 

 sing of the freshness and fra- 

 grance of the spring morning, 

 — "phut - phut - coquil - licot, 

 calumet calumet kereen"; then 

 thrusts a medley of imitations 

 into his theme, Whippoorwill 

 and Tanager notes, Cardinal 

 and Jay — even trying to ren- 

 der the Wood Thrush strain, 

 although to produce the Thrush 

 tone is far beyond his powers. Again he catches 

 the full sweetness of his violin, and does beauti- 

 ful coloratura lacework for a while, only to 

 break off, as if a string had snapped, into the 

 harsh cat-call — miaow! miaow! — from which he 

 derives his name. Some very expressive lines 

 have been written by an unknown author con- 

 cerning this quality of Catbird music. The first 

 stanza runs: 



CATBIRD 



Length 9 inches 



