Evening star., 1947-10-10
This and That
Bu Charles Z. TraceueN

The female catbird was singing merrily, "
said the story, upon reading which the friend
of birds laughed loudly.
Lady catbirds do not sing Of course.
They have voice, as do all songsters, but
they confine it to the catlike meow of the
species and few assorted alarm notes.
1t is the male catbird that sings and he
usually sings far better than most listeners
give him credit for doing.
Sometimes he is mistaken for mocking-
bird, event.
That is pretty high praise, for our mocker
is the true nightingale of America, but at
times the catbird puts on a good enough
imitation to fool any one.
The last of the catbirds left several days ago.
but the memory of them fingers on In many
a washington garden
**
This is one bird that grows on one.
At first even the bird lover may look at 1t
obliquely.
He hears the peculiar cry, and has read
about how it "sneaks" through shrubbery
In time, however he fails to find any evi-
dence of any more sneaking than other birds
show.
Could it be that those who wrote so were
prejudiced?
The honest bird lover comes to see in time,
that those who have written some of the bird
books have been no more free from bias than
the rest of humanity.
The catbird is no sneak
He is far less of sneak than many of the
little warblers.
He really has no intention of coming up
quietly on anything.
In fact, he heralds his appearance always
by the triumphant meow" which Is the trade
mark of his species.
To him there is no necessity for sly ap-
proach. It is true that at times he may destroy
the eggs of another species, and has now and
then been known to deliver the finishing blow
to a baby bird.
This, alas, is trait not unknown to house
WrenS, grackleS StarlingS, even common SPAR
rows; and one may believe that if some check
could be kept in this matter, practically every
species would prove guilty, now and then.
Murder is not unknown to humanity either.
X x*
The catbird, as rule is one of our best.
It is sleek and beautiful in gray and black
The neat cap distinguishes it from the
mockingbird. Lack of any white, too, Is
another distinguishing mark.
The song Is flowing very much like that Of
the mocker, but interlarded with more odd
notes, as one might expect from such char
acter.
Make no mistake about that-the catbird
is a true character, even what might be called
card"
He is odd in appearance, much like those
unfortunate members of humanity whose
bulging eyes put them in the list of comics.
That few such persons have been able to
cash in on this popularity, and become stage
and screen comics" of fame and fortune, does
not in the least help those others who have no
such gifts and yet must suffer from the unwil-
lingness of others to take them seriously.
The catbird has a way of looking at one
sideways that strikes many an observer as
peculiar, to say the least. The mocker could
give this same look in exactly the same way
without causing the same reaction.
Friends of birds know the worth Of Americas
catbird. They regard him as one Of the best We
have, a fine fellow to have around whose
actions and appearance become more interest
ing the more one watches him.
The two sexes look exactly alike, The nest
usually is placed no higher than 10 feet from
the ground, and often far less In fact, one
of the weak points of this species is its desire
to put the nest too low, where marauding
animals can catch the babies
Usually four eggs are laid, or at most five,
although six have been known. The eggs are
blue green much darker than robin eggs.
This bird goes as far South as Mexico and
Panama. A few have appeared in Europe,
although it has not thrived there.
Some of the popular names of the catbird
are chicken bird, cat hycatcher, snake bird,
slate-colored mockingbird and black-capped
thrush.