Roger says," replied the Doctor, "but on
the other hand, the Catbird, besides being a merry garden neighbor and
musician, which in itself is enough to pay his rent, belongs as a
citizen to the Tree Trappers and Ground Gleaners, and is also a great
sower of wild fruits. Though he does provoke us at times by taking a
bite from the largest berries in the bed, yet he really prefers wild
fruits if he can find them. So it is better for us to protect our grape
arbors and strawberry beds with nets and bits of bright tin strung on
twine to frighten him away from them, than to lose him as a friend and
insect destroyer.

"Surely his song is worth a few handfuls of cherries. Then he is such a
quick-witted, sympathetic bird, always willing to help his neighbors
when they have trouble with Crows or squirrels. And when half a dozen
pairs of Catbirds choose the garden for their home, you may be sure that
they will furnish fun as well as music."

"Why does he jerk his tail so?" asked Dodo.

"It is a trick that all the family have," said the Doctor, "from which
some of them are supposed to have taken the name of Thrasher, but that
is doubtful. The Mockingbird thrashes about in his cage; the Brown
Thrasher on the ground under the bushes; the House Wren does the same,
and the tiny Winter Wren gives his tail a jerk instead, for it is not
long enough to really thrash."

"There is a bright-brown bird beating with his tail, down under the
quince bushes now," said Dodo. "Is that some kind of a cousin?"

"It's a Song Thrush," said Rap.

"Or rather what the Wise Men call a Brown Thrasher," said the Doctor;
"the very bird of which I was speaking."

[Illustration: Catbird.]

"Who are the Wise Men?" asked Rap.

"A society of House People who study American birds and decide by what
name it is best to call each species, so that each may be known
everywhere by the same name. This Brown Thrasher is sometimes called
Song Thrush, Brown Thrush, Brown Mockingbird, and Mavis--though the
first and the last of these four names belong only to a kind of European
Thrush that is never found in this country. You see how confusing this
is, and how much better it is for the Wise Men, who know him intimately,
to give him one name you can be sure is right."

The Catbird.

Length between eight and nine inches.

Upper parts slate color.

Crown, bill, feet, and tail black.

Under parts lighter grayish-slate color, except a chestnut-red patch
under the t