The Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) is most common in the Southeastern United States. Our Southern Birds describes its call:

Something of the same capricious collecting habit enters into the Catbird's song; he gathers a bit of everything into it. He begins with a fine musical tone, like a silver violin, to sing of the freshness and fragrance of the spring morning,-- "phut- phut - coquil -liquot, calumet calumet kereen"; then thrusts a medley of imitations into his theme, Whippoorwill and Tanager notes, Cardinal and Jay--even trying to render the Wood Thrush strain, although to produce the Thrush tone is far beyond his powers. Again he catches the full sweetness of his violin, and does beautiful coloratura lacework for a while, only to break off, as if a string had snapped, into the harsh cat-call--miaow! miaow!--from which he derives his name. (125)