The Ottawa free trader., 1878-02-16

BY fiction Of the poets birds all sing pr;ec,
if they sing at all, to the great Creator Jt
course this sounds well, and NAV have smc
moral foundation; but | can come as rar
proving that a Catbird curses, and swcars. ld
swcars and filings out all sorts of abusive pie
thets at its enemies, when angry, as anylc
can come to establishing the song,praisc tho-
ry. How these little fellows can fret. and ScId,
and hiss, and imprcCate-yeS, imprccatc, .et
a sparrowhawk, or scrcech-owl, or butccr-
bird, 90 near ones nest, and, if you ObsTc
closely, your Imagination must be very torid,
| indeed, if you cannot hear ".SdcnJ'eqh' ~ ANAL
that, scattered around pretty freely | hye
seen one fairly dance in ecstasy of anger, wen
nothing but poor little brown lizard cmc
near it, \ pair Of catbirds had their est
and young in Il currant hedge of the gaIcn
belonging to IA farm house where | was ldg-
ing one spring and used to amuse mysclby
exciting lhc anger Of the motherbird. Tdo
! this had to hang a bit Of red cloth near he
nest in her absence and await the result NO
sooner would she return than such twittcng
and Squcaking and scOding would begin as
only Catbird can generate, and when he
found ont that there was mo fight in the ~
she would eye me sitting at my window, nd
new triumphantly, as If she well knew 'hO
il was had thus trouble her cQuanimity. \
war of wOrds-or rather a war of notes Il
thing Of frequent occurrence between a Cattrd
and the common brown thrush. Early in he
morning through the month of May they lay
be heard screaming their respective mcd2ys
at the extreme pitch of their voices from nerh-
boring trees, each songster malciously bcnon
drowning the others voice. The common
bardyard COCK is given to like ambitioIin
the matter of growing down all compctitrS.
Speaking of the brown thrush reminds me hat
ought to record right here very snglar
combat witnessed by myself and brother be-
tween one Of these gag singcrs-and a blucay
(what bird is not compelled to fight the later y
and in which the jay was finally discounted
and beaten. We were lying in the WIDESPREAD
ing wild-plum tree on the edge of little glide.
Near us was a clump of sugarhaw bushe, in
one Of which, we had discovered brown
thrush's nest The bird was incubating. A
blue jay, fitting about on mischief intent as,
in fact, II blue Jay always is, happened toSpy
her, and Immediately attached her, driving
her for refuge into the thick, thorny foliage
above the nest. This seemed an easy turn for
the jay, which at once prepared to have fast
of the eggs. But no sooner had it pcrChe on
the rim Of the nest than the thrush, viii II
savage squall, plunged down from its hiding
place, and struck it a heavy blow on the biCk.
The jay retreated in disorder, but warily re-
turned again when all seemed still. VIII in
finite caution in every movement it hoped
from twig TO twig, turning its creasted lead
tins way and that, till 1t reached the TEST.
Again. with IA shrill scream, the thush
pounced from its hiding-place, using its long,
sharp beak for a sword TO stab the jays expos
ed and detcnsely back. Again and again
the would-be robber fled and returned, each
time to get rougher usage; and finally as il
utterly outdone, with rapidly repeated cries of
Delay! delay dejay!" it fitted away into
the depths of the woods, to come no more
lDDiCtOH'S .IOllUU