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 prima 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 
