244 
CAT BIRD. 
Georgia late in February, and reach New England about the 
beginning of May. In their migrations, they keep pace with 
the progress of agriculture ; and the first settlers in many 
parts of the Gennesee country, have told me, that it was 
several years after they removed there, before the Cat Bird 
made his appearance among them. With all these amiable 
qualities to recommend him, few people in the country 
respect the Cat Bird; on the contrary, it is generally the 
nest, eggs, and young. I am at a loss to account for this i 
cruel prejudice. Even those by whom it is entertained, can 
scarcely tell you why; only they “ hate Cat Birds as some 
persons tell you they hate Frenchmen, they hate Dutchmen, 
&c. — expressions that bespeak their own narrowness of under- 
standing, and want of liberality. Yet, after ruminating over i 
in my own mind all the probable causes, I think I have at 
last hit on some of them ; the principal of which seems to me 
to be a certain similarity of taste, and clashing of interest, 
between the Cat Bird and the farmer. The Cat Bird is fond 
of large ripe garden strawberries ; so is the farmer, for the j 
good price they bring in market : the Cat Bird loves the best J 
and richest early cherries ; so does the farmer, for they are 
sometimes the most profitable of his early fruit : the Cat Bird 
has a particular partiality for the finest ripe mellow pears ; 
and these are also particular favourites with the farmer. But 
the Cat Bird has frequently the advantage of the farmer, 
by snatching 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 boys are now set to watch the 1 
cherry trees with the gun : and thus commences a train of 
prejudices and antipathies, that commonly continue through 
object of dislike ; and the boys of the United States entertain 
the same prejudice and contempt for this bird, its nest and 
young, as those of Britain do for the Yellow Hammer, and its : 
