OUR HOME BIRDS. 
147 
frequently the advantage of the farmer, by snatch- 
ing off the first fruits of these delicious productions ; 
and the farmer takes revenge by shooting him down 
with his gun, as he finds old hats, windmills, and 
scarecrows are no impediments in his way to these 
forbidden fruits ; and nothing but this resource — the 
ultimatum of farmers as well as kings — can restrain 
his visits/ 
“ The writer adds, with his usual fondness for say- 
ing a good word for the persecuted : 4 Perhaps, too, 
the common note of the cat-bird, so like the mewing 
of the animal whose name he bears, and who itself 
sustains no small share of prejudice, the homeliness 
of his plumage, and even his familiarity, so proverbi- 
ally known to beget contempt, may also contribute to 
this mean, illiberal, and persecuting prejudice ; but 
with the generous and the good, the lovers of Nature 
and of rural charms, the confidence which this fa- 
miliar bird places in man by building in his garden, 
under his eye, the music of his song, and the inter- 
esting playfulness of his manners, will always be 
more than a recompense for the little stolen morsels 
he snatches/ 
“ The cat-bird is a devoted parent, and can scarcely 
be made to desert its nest. This very affection makes 
it more easily frightened ; and a person in the woods 
imitating the violent chirping or squeaking of young 
