The Cat‑bird; The Cat‑nip

The Cat‑bird’s call resembles that
Emitted by the Pussy Cat,
While Cat‑nip growing by the wall,
Is never known to caterwaul:
Its odor though attracts the Kits,
And throws them in Cat‑nip‑tion fits.

Where this text comes from

First published in How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts (1917). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-20.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/robert-williams-wood_how-to-tell-the-birds-from-the-flowers-and-other-woodcuts, how-to-tell-the-birds-from-the-flowers.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (3)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L6.

Cite this poem

Robert Williams Wood (1868–1955). “The Cat‑bird; The Cat‑nip.” First published in How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts (1917). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/robert-williams-wood/the-cat-bird-the-cat-nip/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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