CAT BIRD. 



24I 



animal. Unsuspicious, and extremely familiar, lie seems less 

 apprehensive 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 inter- 

 ested 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, sometimes five eggs, of a uniform 

 greenish blue colour, 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 myself with imitating the violent chirping or squeak- 

 ing of young birds, in order to observe what different species 

 were around me ; for such sounds, at such a season, in the 

 woods, are no less alarming to the feathered tenants of the 

 bushes, than the cry of fire or murder in the streets is to the 

 inhabitants of a large and populous city. On such occasions 

 of alarm and consternation, the cat bird is the first to make 

 his appearance, not singly, but sometimes half a dozen at a 



time, flying from different quarters to the spot. At this time, 

 vol. 1. Q 



