A BIRDS’ GALA-DAY. 149 
On the other hand, this tawny vocalist utters musi- 
cal strains that are entirely unlike anything else in 
the whole realm of bird minstrelsy, proving his song 
to be characteristic. The brown thrasher is not a 
musical pirate, but an original composer, —a sort of 
Mozart or Beethoven in the bird world. And how 
wonderful are some of his slurred runs! Nothing 
in the domain of music could be finer, and the harsh 
notes he frequently interpolates only serve to ac- 
centuate and enhance the melody of those that are 
truly lyrical. 
In his engaging book entitled “ Birds in the Bush,” 
Bradford Torrey, who is second to none in the school 
of popular writers on feathered folk, characterizes this 
tawny vocalist in a most admirable manner. How- 
ever, in regard to the matter of mimicry, his obser- 
vations differ slightly from my own; yet I gladly 
quote what he says rather incidentally on the subject. 
One day he was listening to three thrashers singing 
simultaneously. ‘In the midst of the hurly-burly,”’ 
he writes, ‘one of the trio suddenly sounded the 
whippoorwill’s call twice, — an absolutely perfect re- 
production.’”’ ‘Then he adds, somewhat jocosely, in 
a foot-note: “The ‘authorities’ long since forbade 
flarporhynchus rufus to play the mimic. Probably in 
the excitement of the moment this fellow forgot him- 
self.” Of course, one cannot gainsay the testimony 
of so careful an observer and so conscientious a re- 
porter as Mr. Torrey; yet it is possible that this 
whippoorwill call was only a slip of the thrasher’s 
voice and not an intended imitation ; at all events, 
