THE CANADIAN MOCKING-BIRD 141 
smaller, and the anxious mother is terribly distressed 
if an intruder ventures near. 
These summer residents vary their diet with the 
changing seasons. On their first arrival they explore 
the naked thickets and evergreens, and hurry over 
the ground and among the leaves in search of insects. 
Beetles, Spiders, Worms, Ants, Grasshoppers, in fact 
all kinds of insects, are eagerly gathered. The birds 
often pause to sing at their work or to perform some 
extravagant antics for the entertainment of a visitor. 
When the young nestlings demand food the mother is 
unceasing in the pursuit of insects, and is said to be so 
energetic that she will assist in feeding the young in 
other nests. If the Mulberries ripen sufficiently early 
the nestlings are treated to their full share of the new 
delicacies, and as the season advances and the fruit 
becomes more tempting the insect diet is almost 
entirely abandoned. Then the valuable service of 
the earlier season is forgotten, and the Catbird is in- 
considerately declared a thief and a vagabond. But 
friendship and affection are superior alike to the evil 
reports of busy tongues and the deliberate condemna- 
tion of the gravest judges. Friends who have listened 
to the varied songs of the Catbird in the evenings of 
early spring or watched his amusing activity in the 
naked shrubbery will freely forgive his depredations 
and reserve for him a favoured place among the guests 
of summer. 
