CAT BIRD. 
103 
lead *’ cannot arrang'e him with the g^rand 
^nio**^** ®1 our vernal choristers, he well merits a place 
the most agreeable general performers. 
'■s bird, as has been before ob.servcd. 
has been before observed, is very 
summer, in the middle States. Scarcely a 
Wer^*i ^1**^ country is without its catbirds; and, 
Wfi ^ ’'‘•fy to fly in flocks, like many other birds, they 
Uj; ** ,‘larken tlie air with their numbers. But their 
Pf^‘**''®ns are seldom observed, owinij to their gradual 
b* •**''** recession, in 8priii!r ana autumn, to and 
i], p Iheir breeding places. They enter Georgia late 
bin bud reach New Kngland about the begin- 
May. In their migrations, they kee]) pace with 
P'’bgress of agriculture; and the first settlers in 
country, have told me, 
bpf "’as several years, after they removed there, 
the cat bird made his appearance among them. 
Peo I these amiable qualities to recommend him, few 
the country respect the cat bird; on the 
boy it is generally the object of dislike ; and the 
biiil Ua'ted States entertain the same prejudice 
of jj*^?''j®nipt for this bird, its nest and young, as those 
agj *’*tain do for the yellowhammer, and its nest, eggs, 
hfeii^c**’*®' 1 1“** to account for this cruel 
Sojjj. jCe. Even those by whom it is entertained, can 
So^^*v' tell you « hy ; only they “ hate cat birds ;” as 
Bm*,P®>'sons tell you they hate Frenchmen, they hate 
bsy &c; expressions that bespeak their own 
bess of understanding, and ivant of liberality. 
i**'eb Tl ruminating over in my own mind all the 
tby^*_ ® causes, 1 think 1 have at last hit on some of 
.’ the principal of which seems to me to be a 
bet„.'*‘ similarity of taste, and clashing of interest, 
fotijj the cat bird and the farmer. The cat bird is 
fof large ripe garden strawberries ; so is the fanner, 
loyy '®, Sb"d price they bring in market: the cat bird 
bo best and richest early cherries; so does the 
bis „ they are sometimes the most profitable of 
fof 1‘ruit : the cat bird has a particular partiality 
0 finest ripe mellow pears ; and these are also 
