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From: mm@vaxine.UUCP (Mark Mudgett)
Newsgroups: net.rec.birds
Subject: Re: wild(life) conversations
Message-ID: <653@vaxine.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Sep-85 13:06:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: vaxine.653
Posted: Tue Sep 17 13:06:04 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Sep-85 05:26:06 EDT
Organization: Automatix, Inc., Billerica, MA
Lines: 31

>                                               The bird would call
> and my cat would answer.  This call and response went on for about ten
> minutes when the catbird, tiring of it all, flew off into sunset.

> Is this odd behavior for a cat and/or a catbird? Does anyone know how
> the catbird got its name?
> Jay Elvove       ..!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umd5!jay

The Catbird is named for the cat-like sounds it makes.  It is a close relative
of the Mockingbird (both are mimic thrushes), and shares some of the Mocking-
bird's talent for mimicry.  Even if you can't see them, you can distinguish
a Catbird from a Mockingbird by ear.  The Mockingbird tends to sing several
(7 -- 12) syllables of a bird call, then several syllables of another bird,
then several of another bird.  The Catbird tends to sing a few (2 -- 3)
syllables of a bird, then a cat, then another bird, then a cat, etc.  The
Mockingbird's songs can often be identified as to the bird being imitated
(I knew one Mockingbird that often perched on the roof above my bedroom and
learned the call of my pet Monk Parrot!), where the Catbird often uses calls
that cannot be readily identified with any bird.

Catbirds are known to mimic, but I have never known of a cat to mimic a bird.
Perhaps the cat was doing the call, and the Catbird was doing the response.
-- 
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         _TT    /|    |~           Mark C. Mudgett
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