[See quot. 1885.] An American thrush (Mimus Carolinensis).
1731. Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXVII. 175. Muscicapa vertice nigro. The Cat-Bird.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., 230.
| I hear the whispering voice of Spring, | |
| The thrush’s trill, the cat-bird’s cry, | |
| Like some poor bird with prisoned wing | |
| That sits and sings, but longs to fly. |
a. 1879. Lowell, Poet. Wks. (1879), 38. The cat-bird croons in the lilac-bush.
1885. W. I. Stillman, in Pall Mall Gaz., 21 May, 4/2. The ‘cat-bird’ … derives its name from its ordinary cry of alarm, which somewhat resembles the mew of a cat.
