“THE CATBIRD. 
audience,” etc. Some lack originality, feeling, are incapable of sustained 
effort, cannot imitate other birds, etc. But some Catbirds are among the 
most talented singers known. One such I remember, which, overcome by the 
charms of a May day sunset, mounted the tip of a pasture.elm, and poured 
forth a hymn of praise in which every voice of woodland and field was laid 
under contribution. Yet all were suffused by the singer’s own emotion. Oh, 
how that voice rang out upon the still evening air! The bird sang with true 
feeling, an artist in every sense, and the delicacy and accuracy of his phrasing 
must have silenced a much more captious critic than I. Never at a loss for a 
note, never pausing to ask himself what he should sing next, he went steadily 
on, now with a phrase from Robin's song, now with the shrill cry of the Red- 
headed Woodpecker, each softened and refined as his own infallible musical 
taste dictated; now and again he interspersed these with bits of his own no 
less beautiful. The carol of Vireo, the tender ditties of the Song and Vesper 
Sparrows, and the more pretentious efforts of Grosbeaks, had all impressed 
themselves upon this musician’s ear, and he repeated them, not slavishly, but 
with discernment and deep appreciation. As the sun sank lower in the west 
I left him there, a dull gray bird, with form scarcely outlined against the 
evening sky, but my soul had taken flight with his—up into that blest abode 
where all Nature’s voices are blended into one, and all music is praise. 
Taken near Stehekin. Photo by the Author. 
A HAUNT OF THE CATBIRD. 
