192 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



Warblers {Phcenicura, Sw.) Nothing can be more beautiful or wonderful than 

 the manner in which Nature preserves her relations, amid the most astonishing 

 variety, and the most extraordinary combinations. — S. 



[41.] 3. Orpheus felivox. (Swainson.) The Cat-bird. 



Genus, Orpheus? Swainson. (Zool. Journ., iii., 167.) 

 Muscicapa Carolinensis. Linn., i., 328, No. 18. 

 Cat Fly-catcher. Penn. Arct. Zool, ii., p. 388, No. 272. 

 Muscicapa Carolinensis. Lath. Ind., ii. p. 483, sp. 64. 

 Turdus felivox. Vieillot. Ois. de I' Am., ii., pi. 67, p. 10. 

 Cat-bird (Turdus lividus). Wilson, ii., p. 91, pi. 14, f. 3. 

 Turdus felivox. Bonap. Syn., p. 75, No. 95. 



The Cat-bird, so named from the strong resemblance which its voice bears to 

 the plaintive mewing of a kitten, is common throughout the United States in sum- 

 mer, but does not appear to wander very far north. We did not observe it higher 

 than the fifty-fourth parallel of latitude ; and, as it is a very familiar bird, it is not 

 probable that more than stray individuals could have visited the districts through 

 which we travelled, without having attracted our notice. It winters on the con- 

 fines of the Gulf of Mexico, arrives in Georgia towards the end of February, in the 

 second week of April reaches Pennsylvania, and in the beginning of May it is 

 seen in New England. It does not reach the banks of the Saskatchewan until 

 the end of May, later than most of the other summer visitors. Wilson informs 

 us, on the authority of the first settlers in the Genesee country, that the Cat-bird, 

 in its migrations, keeps pace with the progress of agriculture, and that they had 

 been several years in their new settlements before he made his appearance 

 amongst them. The want of cultivation may probably be the barrier to his 

 migrations northwards, and not the severity of the season ; for the summer in the 

 fur-countries is fine and warm. The country is more open about Carlton House, 

 and cultivation is carried to a greater extent there than in any other part north of 

 Lake Superior which we visited, and there only did we see the Cat-bird. We 

 should expect to find it, however, in still greater numbers at the colony of 



