104 
TURBUS LIVIBUS. 
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 produc- 
tions ; and the farmer takes revenge, by shooting him 
down with his gun, as he finds old hats, windmills, and 
scarecrows, are no impediment 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 cherry trees 
with the gun ; and thus commences a train of prejudices 
and antipathies, that commonly continue through life. 
Perhaps, too, the common note of the cat bird, so like 
the mewing of the animal whose name it bears, and 
who itself sustains no small share of prejudice, the 
homeliness of his plumage, and even his familiarity, so 
proverbially known to beget contempt, may also con- 
tribute 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 familiar 
bird places in man by building in his garden, under 
his eye, the music of his song, and the interesting 
playfulness of his manners, will always be more than a 
recompense for all the little stolen morsels he snatches. 
The cat bird measures nine inches in length; at a 
small distance he appears nearly black ; but, on a closer 
examination, is of a deep slate colour above, lightest on 
the edges of the primaries, and of a considerably lighter 
slate colour below, except the under tail-coverts, which 
are very dark red; the tail, which is rounded, and 
upper part of the head, as well as the legs and bill, are 
black. The female differs little in colour from the 
male. Latham takes notice of a bird exactly resembling 
this, being found at Kamtschatka, only it wanted the 
red under the tail; probably it might have been a 
young bird, in which the red is scarcely observable. 
This bird has been very improperly classed among 
the flycatchers. As he never seizes his prey on wing, 
has none of their manners, feeds principally on fruit, 
and seems to differ so little from the thrushes, I think 
he more properly belongs to the latter tribe, than to 
