b?v (35) 
1916 
Apsil 4- 
Jul' 
m 
Cat-bird . Never before have I knovm so many Cat¬ 
birds to breed within sight and sound of our farm house. 
Three ap ea.red together in front of it on May 5 and by 
the end of the month we had two pairs nesting in the 
shrubbery behind it, a third in that near the old poultry 
yard, a fourth in that just south of the cow pasture, a 
fifth at the Ritchie place and at least two more in the 
Berry Pasture across the public road. The birds last men¬ 
tioned were probably harried by Jays and apparently 
reared no young, but those nearer the house were but little 
disturbed and were feeding young either in or just out of 
the nests before the close of June. One nest was built in 
a snowberry bush directly under, and within a yard of, the 
pantry window. The male of this pair had a. singularly 
unmusical song, consisting whofly of disconnected rasping 
and stuttering notes very trying to my ea.rs, although 
perhaps not similarly displeasing to those of his mate. 
Although this nest v^as begun on May 18, the young had not 
left it by June 37. 
One of the three birds that arrived on May 5 was 
frequently employed during that day and the next in 
picking up nesting materials and carrying it into the 
Forsythih. tnicket where, however, she dropped at least most 
of it. While thus engaged she (for the bird was evidently 
a female) was closely followed by the other two, both of 
