Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson XXIII · Topic 2: Bird study: birds to know

23. The catbird

Goal: Your child can recognize the catbird by its mewing call, its gray coat with a black cap, and its jerky tail, and describe its song.

⏱ About 25 minutes · 8 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗ 🖨 Copywork sheet

You'll need

  • Binoculars (optional)
  • A shallow pan of water for a bird bath
  • A thicket, hedge or garden shrubs
  • Nature notebook

What's in the book

The leading thought, the method (first study the songs and scolds, then appearance and habits, outside school hours) and ten questions about the cat-like squall, the true song, imitations, size and colors, its actions, nest and eggs, food, where it lives, and how it bathes. A poem by Edith M. Thomas follows.

The lesson, step by step

  1. When and where

    Late spring through summer in most of the United States, in thick shrubs, hedges, garden edges and vine tangles. Listen for a mew like a cat coming out of a bush.

  2. Keep the big idea in mind

    Read this to yourself:

    The catbird has a beautiful song as well as the harsh "miou," and can imitate other birds, although not so well as the mockingbird. It builds in low thickets and shrubbery

  3. The mew

    Do you think the squall of the catbird sounds like the mew of a cat? When does the bird use this note and what for? What other notes have you heard it utter?

  4. The real song

    Describe as well as you can the catbird's true song. Are there any harsh notes in it? Where does he sit while singing?

    Have you ever heard the catbird imitate the songs of other birds or other noises?

  5. Look closely

    Describe the catbird as follows: its size and shape compared to the robin; the color and shape of head, beak, wings, tail, breast and under parts.

    Describe its peculiar actions and its characteristic movements.

    Look under the tail for a rusty patch.

  6. The bath

    Comstock's last question is a fun one to set up:

    Put out a pan of water where the catbirds can use it and then watch them make their toilets and describe the process.

    Put the pan near shrubs and clean it every few days.

  7. Put it into words

    Ask your child to imitate the catbird's mew and say how to find the bird that makes it. Then share the leading thought.

  8. Nature notebook

    Draw a gray catbird with its black cap, tail cocked, peeking out of a bush. Write how its song and its mew sound.

Afterwards

Watch the bird bath for a few minutes each day. Which birds come, and how does each one bathe?

Tip

Catbirds and mockingbirds are cousins. If you did Lesson XXII, ask your child to compare them.

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