APPENDIX. 159 



Cat-bird. (Seep. 52.) 



" Next after the thrasher and the mocking-bird, ' prince of song/ the 

 palm must be awarded to this humble tenant of the shrubbery for power 

 of mimicry and range of vocalization, as well as for sweetness of execution 

 in singing." Steams, W. A. : N. E. Bird-life (ed. by Dr. E. Coues), part i. 

 p. 64. 



See Our Birds. (New Eng. Mag., vol. i., 1831, pp. 227-230.) 



Brown Thrush. (See p. 54.) 



" Our brown thrush is a magnificent singer, albeit he is not of the best 

 school, being too ' sensational ' to suit the most exacting taste. His song 

 is a grand improvisation : a good deal jumbled, to be sure, and without 

 any recognizable form or theme ; and yet, like a Liszt rhapsody, it per- 

 fectly answers its purpose, that is, it gives the performer full scope to 

 show what he can do with his instrument. You may laugh a little, if you 

 like, at an occasional grotesque or overwrought passage, but unless you 

 are well used to it you will surely be astonished. Such power and range 

 of voice; such startling transitions; such endless variety! And withal 

 such boundless enthusiasm and almost incredible endurance ! Regarded 

 as pure music, one strain of the hermit thrush is to my mind worth the 

 whole of it ; just as a single movement of Beethoven's is better than a 

 world of Liszt transcriptions. But in its own way it is unsurpassable." 

 Torrey, B. : Birds in the Bush, p. 117. 



" The song of this bird is difficult of description : it is a sort of confused 

 mixture of the notes of different birds, or rather seems to be, but is really 

 its own song, as different individuals all sing nearly alike. The fact 

 that it resembles the Mocking-bird in its medley of notes has caused it 

 to be called, in some localities, the Brown Mocker ; and it is also sometimes 

 called the Mavis and Nightingale, from its habit of singing in the night 

 during the mating season." Samuels, E. A.: Our Northern and Eastern 

 Birds, p. 165. 



For a tribute to the thrasher's genius by one that " crowns and anoints 

 him Prince of the Poets of the Wild-wood," see Munger, C. A. : " Four 

 Amer. Birds." (Putnam's Mag., N. s. vol. iii., 1869, pp. 728-729.) 



NIGHT SONGS. 



This nightingale by no means has the night to himself. 

 Not to speak of our home birds, the choir of his fellow 



