Evening star., 1946-07-22
This and That
By Charles z. TrdceUeU.
"HUIDEKOPER PLACE.

Dear Sir:
I'VE enjoy your column thoroughly
and read it daily. We particularly relish
hearing about the wild life in other gar
dens. Thought you would like to know
what goes on in ours.
Wild music that is always on the
air brings much delight. The friendly
catbird has been soloist since his arrival
in May. He Is now sitting on a tele-
phone pole above the garden, singing in
contented rapture one song after the
other. The distant songs of the wren
mockingbird, chickadee and robin make
a beautiful accompaniment.
Since l started writing the catbird
has flown to the vines that tWine around
the bird shelf at the window, singing
all the while, first few brilliant songs,
then his music became softer, as if
singing to himself, with his head held
high, turning from side to side I could
see all his throat throbbing as he
warbled on
He sang gloriously while building
the nest, then he sat near, singing all
the day long to his mate in the nest,
never seeming to leave his post long
enough to eat or drink. Now the young
have flown, he still sings on. Handling
each note with care, he often ends his
song with his own peculiar cry, not
unlike a cat call, which some think is
the reason for his name He and the
wood thrush are the only birds that
sing through the twilight. Which seems
to me the sweetest music on earth.
Cordially, M. L. r"
~
We are glad to have some one praise
the catbird. Most of the eulogies are
reserved for the mockingbird, but the
catbird Is no mean singer, in fact some
persons call him superior to the mocker.
His odd cry endears him to those who
like cats, is probably held against him
by those who do not.
1t is a peculiar thing, that typical
catbird cry and one may wonder how
he ever got it. Being a natural mimic
he may perhaps have taken it over
from his four-legged friend Perhaps
some ages ago, catbird without song
began to build one up, and before he
did so he began to listen and maybe the
first thing he heard was the cats meow!
Listened to fairly, the cries of cats
are musical, liquid, filled with the es-
sence of life and being. 1t may be that
the catbirds realize this, and have taken
as their trademark the typical cats
NEW, or meow.
In some parts OF Virginia, this bird
is called the snakebird, it being be-
lieved that 1t says "s-n-a-a-a-ke!"
Most birds do not like snakes, and
no wonder, since these loWly denizens
often seek their young and eggs, many
Of them being ideally suited to writhe
their way into the lower limbs of small
trees and shrubbery where many cat
bird and other nests are placed.
Many listeners to bird songs confuse
the mocker's typical song with that of
the catbird, and the other way around
1t is believed that the catbird has
more humor in his song, will initiate a
wider range OF sounds. particularly un-
usual ones, and does not have quite so
flowing melody as the mockingbird.
All birds, when they sing, fairly throb
with the effort. Their throat muscles
are so constructed that they are able
to make a gigantic sound, compared
with the size of its creator. This is
achieved by the use of all these muscles.
and fine flow of air over them from
good air capacities.
Air is not only the medium in which
birds move, but it is veritable part of
their bones and tissues, much more so
than with human beings.
They have been called "jewels of the
air., and it is not bad way to de-
scribe them.
The catbird is sometimes mistaken
Tor the mockingbird. The former is
gray, with black cap, and neither has
the white in its wings, easily seen when
the mocker is flying, or the peculiarly
long tail of the mockingbird.
The catbird is his own bird, a real
natural prince Of the air, one whose
beauty and oddities of song and manner
make him stand out in any company.