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 



