The mewing note of the Cat-Bird, from which his name is derived, has
been the occasion of many misfortunes to his species, causing them to
share a portion of that contempt which almost every human being feels
towards the feline race, and that contempt has been followed by
persecution. The Cat-Bird has always been proscribed by the New England
farmers, who from the first settlement of the country have entertained a
prejudice against many of the most useful birds. The Robin and a few
diminutive Fly-Catchers are almost the only exceptions. But the Robin is
now in danger of proscription. Within a few years past, the
horticulturists, who are unwilling lo lose their cherries for the
general benefit of agriculture, have made an effort to obtain an edict
of outlawry against him, accusing him of being entirely useless to the
farmer and the gardener. Their efforts have caused the friends of the
Robin to examine his claims to protection, and the result of their
investigations is demonstrative proof that the Robin is among the most
useful birds in existence. The Cat-Bird and other Thrushes are similar
in their habits of feeding and in their services to agriculture.

The Red Mavis (_Turdus rufus_) has many habits similar to those of the
Cat-Bird, but he is not partial to low grounds. He is one of the most
remarkable of the American birds, and is generally considered the finest
songster in the New England forest. Nuttall says, "He is inferior only
to the Mocking-Bird in musical talent"; but I should question his
inferiority. He is superior to the Mocking-Bird in variety, and is
surpassed by him only in the intonation of some of his notes. But no
person is ever tired of listening to the Red Mavis, who constantly
varies his song, while the Mocking-Bird tires us with his repetitions,
which are often continued to a ludicrous extreme.

It is unfortunate that our ornithologists should, in any cases, have
adopted the disagreeable names which our singularly unpoetical
countrymen have given to the birds. The little Hair-Bird, for example,
is called the "Chipping-Sparrow," as if he were in the habit of making
chips, like the Carpenter-Bird; and the Red Thrush is called the
"Thrasher," which is a low corruption of Thrush, and would signify that
the bird had some peculiar habit of _threshing_ with his wings. The word
"chipping," when used for "chirping," is incorrect English; and
"thrasher" is incorrect in point of fact. No such names should