A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Science
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 1 of 3
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Birds -- North America
Western specimens have not appreciably longer tails than Eastern.
Central American examples, as a rule, have the plumbeous of a more
bluish cast than is usually seen in North American skins.
HABITS. The Catbird has a very extended geographical range. It is
abundant throughout the Atlantic States, from Florida to Maine; in the
central portion of the continent it is found as far north as Lake
Winnepeg.
On the Pacific coast it has been met with at Panama, and also on the
Columbia River. It is occasional in Cuba and the Bahamas, and in the
Bermudas is a permanent resident. It is also found during the winter
months abundant in Central America, It breeds in all the Southern
States with possibly the exception of Florida. In Maine, according to
Professor Verrill, it is as common as in Massachusetts, arriving in
the former place about the 20th of May, about a week later than in the
vicinity of Boston, and beginning to deposit its eggs early in June.
Near Calais it is a less common visitant.
The Northern migrations of the Catbird commence early in February,
when they make their appearance in Florida, Georgia, and the
Carolinas. In April they reach Virginia and Pennsylvania, and New
England from the 1st to the 10th of May. Their first appearance is
usually coincident with the blossoming of the pear-trees. It is not
generally a popular or welcome visitant, a prejudice more or less wide
spread existing in regard to it. Yet few birds more deserve kindness
at our hands, or will better repay it. From its first appearance among
us, almost to the time of departure in early fall, the air is vocal
with the quaint but attractive melody, rendered all the more
interesting from the natural song being often blended with notes
imperfectly mimicked from the songs of other birds. The song, whether
natural or imitative, is always varied, attractive, and beautiful.
The Catbird, when once established as a welcome guest, soon makes
itself perfectly at home. He is to be seen at all times, and is almost
ever in motion. They become quite tame, and the male bird will
frequently apparently delight to sing in the immediate presence of
man. Occasionally they will build their nest in close proximity to a
house, and appear unmindful of the presence of the members of the
family.
The Catbird’s power of mimicry, though limited and imperfectly
exercised, is frequently very amusing. The more difficult notes it
rarely attempts to copy, and signally fails whenever it does so. The
whistle of the Quail, the cluck of a hen calling her brood, the answer
of the young chicks, the note of the Pewit Flycatcher, and the refrain
of Towhee, the Catbird will imitate with so much exactness as not to
be distinguished from the original.
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