The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-28
HE'S A JOKER IN FEATHERS.
Tricks That the Catbird Takes De-
light I'm Playing.
Ion l. - York SUI.

| 10 repeat. The young man who had been
very deeply interested in what his COM
panion was saying turned with a start.
as one who thought himself guyed might
10. The young woman laughed chesrily
when she saw him start and said:
Don't you know that voice? It's the
bird clown. as ! call him, but the bird
sharps call him the catbird and long
Latin name that don't mean anything and
nobody can remember. Wait and Wen
see him. You may think me supersu-
tious, but there is something uncanny
about that birds knowledge and doings.
DO you know. / believe he saw you were
stupid enough to be very much absorbed
in what l was saying, and just meowed
to wake you up"
The two sat on a bench ana kept very
quiet for a minute or two. Then, with
pIOdigious futter a small, slate-colored
bird, with a particularly black cap on his
head, alighted on a limb Of bush at the
edge OF the Ticket flew thence 70 the
asphalt walk, where he landed very hard
and jumped up as If he had rebounded.
Then he cooked his head first to one side
and then 10 the other, shook his wings
clear of his body, closed them again,
spread his long tail in fan fashion and
shut it up again.
What Kind Of dress for a clown do
you call that?" asked the young man.
Just wait; you haven't seen it all,
replied the girl, with a chuckle, and, then,
as il to please her, the bird flew up TO
branch, alighting with his back to the
couple watching him. The limb swayed
and the bird tilted over, with his long tail
in the air.
"Jeel" said the young man, hes dressed
in mourning with a red patch on his trous-
ers." Both the spectators laughed, and
the bird turned around instantly. Then
he spread his legs a bit, dropped his
wings, firted his tail up and down. and
said once more:
Say! za-a-ay! sa-a-ay"
Great show, amt it2" said the girl
HE knew very well we were laughing at
him"
Looks like IT. Get on to the dance"
The bird was jumping up and down in
the place where he stood, but after the
third jump he turned and disappeared like
a black flash into the brush. The young
couple on the bench waited for half an
hour for him to return, but he was away
on another engagement, and they saw no
more OF him, at least on that occasion.
Mean time the girl told the young man
lot of facts about the bird.
1.-THE catbird," she said comes from
away south, Florida and beyond, every
spring, and reaches the park here some
there in the Museum Of Natural History
who keeps a diary of birds, and can tell
the exact day on which the catbird has
arrived every year for long time past
If you should get interested inthe matter
ANYHOW. one day you'u be crossing the
Park with your overcoat buttoned and
hands in your pockets and won't see any
things but robins and sparrows. The next
day maybe, it'n be so warm you'll wish
you'd left your coat at home, and you'll
sit down in the shade to fan yourself,
and then, with a whisk of his tail the cat
bird will come out to say 'howdy do to
you. There'n be a lot of other birds
around at the same time, and some with
such gorgeous colors that If you were
looking for fine birds you'd be sure to
give them all your attention. For. in
stance, there's a VelVety, black little chap
with bright salmon patches on his wings
and tail-a lovely contrast of color-called
dance, but all he knows is how to catch
flies and sit on a limb and say Sweet
sweet! sweetp in a Mandy pamby way,
while his wife builds the nest and gets
ready for housekeeping.
THE catbird is not So He's got sense,
and he's the boss comedian of his tribe.
Did you notice what a fuss he made when
he first appeared? All right. one day /
was in the park here watching a dozen
sparrows that were snarling and fighting
over a biscuit While they rumpled them
selves over the spoils there came a cat
bird with just such futter plump in the
middle of the lot, screaming as he came.
Whew You should have seen 'em scat
ter"
Carried off the biscuit himself, eh?"
said the young man.
mo. he didn't. Catbirds live on insects
and berries. He did it just for a Joke
on the sparrows. You know what a LOT
of arb I, ala
lookout or fort or whatever il is up at the
head of the park on top of the hill? Yes?
Well, they nest there-hundreds of them,
l guess. One day i was up there, about
the time the first baby sparrow of the
spring began to leave the nest. While
was thinking ia like to strangle the whole
flock at once, l saw catbird slip under
a bunch of leaves right at the corner of
the fort. The next minute a terrible
whining and screeching came out of that
brush-for all the world like a baby spar
row that some one was eating alive. l
was sure the catbird was killing one of
the little beasts, and you should have
seen the commotion among the old spar
rows! The air was just thick with them,
and you couldn't hear anything else for
the noise they made. Well, I'd never
heard of the catbird killing young SPAR
rows, and I just walked right to that
clump of leaves and opened il up. What
as pulled the branches apart, and when
looked in the leaves nothing was to be
found. He'd just squalled like a young
one to bother the old birds. Dandy, amt
he?
Another day there was flock of cedar
birds over on the other side not far from
the end of Ninety-second street. You
don't know cedar birds do you? They're
lovely-velvety black face and throat. with
grayish brown backs-the most exquisite
color you ever saw. The breast is gray,
too, shading into lemon yellcw They're
not only beautiful, but they're the most
affectionate birds in the world, except
owls"
"Oh. 1 thought doves were" interrupted
the young man.
Doves? Humph! Doves are silly. The
cedar bird is well-bred lover. Well, one
day l saw flock Of them-six or SEVEN
sitting on the limb of a tree, all in a row,
and all engaged in a very polite converse
ton with one another when, most unex-
pectedly, there was a shrill hawk scream
right over their backs with a tremend-
Gus futter of wings, and away those cedar
birds scattered in every direction. What
IL, kfs,ly .