158 MINOR SONGSTERS. 
discovery,” they have a sort of proprietary inter- 
est. This, at least, is evident: our preference 
is not determined altogether by the intrinsic 
worth of the song; the mind is active, not pass- 
ive, and gives to the music something from it- 
self, — ‘‘ the consecration and the poet’s dream.” 
Furthermore, it is to be said that a singer — 
and a bird no less than a man — may be want- 
ing in that fullness and scope of voice and that 
large measure of technical skill which are abso- 
lutely essential to the great artist, properly so 
called, and yet, within his own limitations, may 
be competent to please even the most fastidious 
ear. It is with birds as with other poets: the 
smaller gift need not be the less genuine; and 
they whom the world calls greatest, and whom 
we ourselves most admire, may possibly not be 
the ones who touch us most intimately, or to 
whom we return oftenest and with most delight. 
This may be well illustrated by a comparison 
of the chickadee with the brown thrush. The 
thrush, or, as he is sometimes profanely styled, 
the thrasher, is the most pretentious, perhaps I 
ought to say the greatest, of New England song- 
sters, if we rule out the mocking-bird, who is so 
very rare with us as scarcely to come into the 
competition ; and still, in my opinion, his sing- 
ing seldom produces the effect of really fine 
music. With all his ability, which is nothing 
