196 
SINGING BIRDS. 
During the heat of the day, or late in the morning, the variety 
of his song declines, or he pursues his employment in silence 
and retirement. 
About the 25 th of May one of these familiar birds came into 
the Botanic Garden and took up his summer abode with us. 
Soon after his arrival he called up in low whisperings the notes 
of the Whip-poor-will, the Redbird, the peto peto of the Tufted 
Titmouse, and other imitations of Southern birds which he had 
collected on his leisurely route from the South. He also soon 
mocked the 'tshe-yak 'tshe-yah of the little Acadian Flycatch- 
ers, with which the neighborhood now abounded. He fre- 
quently answered to my whistle in the garden, was very silent 
during the period of incubation, and expressed great anxiety 
and complaint on my approaching the young after their leaving 
the nest. 
One of the most remarkable propensities of the Catbird, and 
to which it owes its name, is the unpleasant, loud, and grating 
cat-like mew (^pay, 'pay, ’pay) which it often utters on being 
approached or offended. As the irritation increases, this note 
becomes more hoarse, reiterated, and vehement; and some- 
times this petulance and anger are carried so far as to per- 
secute every intruder who approaches the premises. This 
temper often prevails after the young are fledged ; and though 
originating no doubt in parental anxiety, it sometimes appears 
to outlive that season, and occasionally becomes such an an- 
noyance that a revengeful and fatal blow from a stick or stone 
is but too often, with the thoughtless and prejudiced, the- re- 
ward of this harmless and capricious provocation. At such 
times, with little apparent cause, the agitation of the bird is 
excessive ; she hurries backward and forward with hanging 
wings and open mouth, mewing and screaming in a paroxysm 
of scolding anger, and alighting almost to peck the very hand 
that offers the insult. To touch a twig or branch in any part 
of the garden or wood is often amply sufficient to call down 
the amusing termagant. This harmless excess, and simulation 
of grimalkin’s tone, — that wizard animal so much disliked by 
many, — are unfortunate associations in the cry of the CathirA ; 
