MINOR SONGSTERS. 171 



possibly it is our fault, and not that of Rhus 

 venenata., when we suffer from the touch of that 

 graceful shrub. 



The white-eyed greenlet is a vocalist of such 

 extraordinary versatility and power that one 

 feels almost guilty in speaking of him under the 

 title which stands at the head of this paper. 

 How he would scold, out-carlyling Carlyle, if he 

 knew what were going on ! Nevertheless I can- 

 not rank him with the great singers, exception- 

 ally clever and original as, beyond all dispute, 

 he is ; and for that matter, I look upon the sol- 

 itary as very much his superior, in spite of — 

 or, shall I say, because of ? — the latter's greater 

 simplicity and reserve. 



But if we hesitate thus about these two in- 

 conspicuous vireos, whom half of those who do 

 them the honor to read what is here said about 

 them will have never seen, how are we to deal 

 with the scarlet tanager? Our handsomest 

 bird, and with musical aspirations as well, shall 

 we put him into the second class? It must be 

 so, I fear : yet such justice is a trial to the 

 flesh ; for what critic could ever quite leave out 

 of account the beauty of a jji'ima donna in pass- 

 ing judgment on her work ? Does not her an- 

 gelic face sing to his eye, as Emerson says ? 



Formerly I gave the tanager credit for only 

 one song, — the one which suggests a robin 



