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In the catbird seat

Posted by Kent Stuart on September 02, 2009 at 09:55

Regarding your entry "catbird" and "in the catbird seat": a catbird in the States is less well known for it's song than for the fact that they do not make their own nests; instead they lay their eggs in the nests of unwitting "donor" birds. It may well be that the phrase used by Red Barber is in some way based on this fact: the catbird enjoys some special advantage at the cost of others, the nest being its seat.

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