July 
been proved, to my present knowledge, but 
nevertheless the victim of very general preju- 
dice. He isa younger and less talented brother 
of the mocking-bird which flourishes in the 
Southern States, and rarely comes North except 
by constraint. Perhaps the catbird might be 
called his prodigal brother, for the evident 
neglect of his musical education would natu- 
rally be the result of youthful waywardness. 
At any rate his talents are dissipated, if his 
morals are not. But, not to heap unproved 
accusations upon him, he unquestionably has a 
spiteful and suspicious air, and in his garb of 
dark slate with the black head-piece it is no 
stretch of the imagination to say that he looks 
a bit villainous—‘‘ gallows-minded,’’ in the 
terse phrase of an old poet—and aptly typifies 
a certain class of human beings, with chronic 
hang-dog air, against whom, while nothing vi- 
cious has ever actually been proved, you can 
readily believe any imputation that might be 
suggested. A dubious reputation is sometimes 
a. person’s misfortune rather than his fault, but 
as things are now, the burden of proof seems 
to rest on the side of the catbird, and inno- 
cence seldom fails to vindicate itself. But in- 
stead of trying to do so, he skulks most of the 
195 
