24 WAKE-ROBIN 



that so obviously and unmistakably surpassed all 

 his rivals, that my companion, though slow to 

 notice such things, remarked it wonderingly; and 

 with one accord we paused to listen to so rare a 

 performer. It was not different in quality so much 

 as in quantity. Such a flood of it! Such copious- 

 ness! Such long, trilling, accelerating preludes! 

 Such sudden, ecstatic overtures would have intoxi- 

 cated the dullest ear. He was really without a 

 compeer, a master- artist. Twice afterward I was 

 conscious of having heard the same bird. 



The wood thrush is the handsomest species of 

 this family. In grace and elegance of manner he 

 has no equal. Such a gentle, high-bred air, and 

 such inimitable ease and composure in his flight and 

 movement! He is a poet in very word and deed. 

 His carriage is music to the eye. His performance 

 of the commonest act, as catching a beetle, or pick- 

 ing a worm from the mud, pleases like a stroke of 

 wit or eloquence. Was he a prince in the olden 

 time, and do the regal grace and mien still adhere 

 to him in his transformation ? What a finely pro- 

 portioned form ! How plain, yet rich, his color, 

 the bright russet of his back, the clear white of his 

 breast, with the distinct heart-shaped spots! It 

 may be objected to Kobin that he is noisy and 

 demonstrative; he hurries away or rises to a branch 

 with an angry note, and flirts his wings in ill-bred 

 suspicion. The mavis, or red thrush, sneaks and 

 skulks like a culprit, hiding in the densest alders ; 

 the catbird is a coquette and a flirt, as well as a 



