BIRDS AND BATTLEFIELDS. 179 



suggested to him to enlarge his musical sphere ! 

 It was certainly curious that he gave the calls 

 of the wood thrush and the brown thrasher, 

 but never reproduced their songs. 



There is danger that all other feathered 

 songsters will suffer in comparison with the 

 mocker's splendid efforts. He seems so supe= 

 rior to all his rivals. A catbird's song on the 

 same hillside seemed very tame, almost insipid. 

 And yet in a wooded hollow, out of hearing of 

 the jolly mimic, a catbird executed some ex- 

 quisite runs that for sweetness and flow were 

 superior to any tones produced by the hillside 

 minstrel. They had a deliciously human in- 

 tonation, as if the bird were uttering a senti- 

 ment ; and no doubt he was, for he would re- 

 turn to them again and again. The technique 

 of the son ST was excellent It was with no little 

 pleasure that I said to myself : " It is enchant- 

 ing music, and all original, too ! " With all his 

 sly ways, the catbird is too honest to pirate an- 

 other bird's sons:, althou2:h in Viroj-inia I once 

 heard one give a perfect imitation of the whip- 

 poor-will's nocturnal lay. Perhaps it was only 

 fancy, but it appeared to me that the catbirds 

 sang more s^veetly in this battle-renowned re- 

 gion than elsewhere. 



In a few hours' ramble over a neighbor- 



