CATBIRD. 245 



charms, the confidence which this familiar bird places in man 

 by building in his garden, under his eye, the music of his song, 

 and the interesting playfulness of his manners, will always he 

 more than a recompense for all the little stolen morsels he 

 snatches. 



The cat bird measures nine inches in length ; at a small 

 distance he appears nearly black ; but, on a closer examination, 

 is of a deep slate colour above, lightest on the edges of the 

 primaries, and of a considerably lighter slate colour below, 

 except the under tail-coverts, which are very dark red ; the 

 tail, which is rounded, and upper part of the head, as well as 

 the legs and bill, are black. The female differs little in colour 

 from the male. Latham takes notice of a bird, exactly resem- 

 bling this, being found at Kamtschatka, only it wanted the 

 red under the tail. Probably it might have been a young 

 bird, in which the red is scarcely observable. 



This bird has been very improperly classed among the fly- 

 catchers. As he never seizes his prey on wing, has none of 

 their manners, feeds principally on fruit, and seems to differ 

 so little from the thrushes, I think he more properly belongs 

 to the latter tribe, than to any other genus we have. His bill, 

 legs, and feet, place and mode of building, the colour of the 

 eggs, his imitative notes, food, and general manners, all justify 

 me in removing him to this genus. 



The cat bird is one of those unfortunate victims, and indeed 

 the principal, against which credulity and ignorance have so 

 often directed the fascinating quality of the black snake. A 

 multitude of marvellous stories have been told me by people 

 who have themselves seen the poor cat birds drawn, or sucked, 

 as they sometimes express it, from the tops of the trees (which, 

 by the by, the cat bird rarely visits), one by one into the 

 yawning mouth of the immovable snake. It has so happened 

 with me, that in all the adventures of this kind that 1 have 

 personally witnessed, the cat bird was actually the assailant, 

 and always the successful one. These rencounters never take 

 place but during the breeding time of birds, for whose eggs 



