catbird

noun

• 1a long-tailed American songbird of the mockingbird family, with mainly dark gray or black plumage and catlike calls.

  • Two genera and species, family Mimidae, in particular the gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) of North America

• 2a thickset Australasian bird of the bowerbird family, typically with a loud call like a yowling cat. It does not generally construct bowers.

  • Genus Ailuroedus (and Scenopoeetes), family Ptilonorhynchidae: several species, in particular the green catbird (A. crassirostris)