58 SOME OF THE CATBIRD'S TRAITS 



Crow and chattering Blackbird would share the same disgrace. 

 Yet the fact remains that the Catbird is almost always re- 

 garded unfavorably, not so much for what he does, perhaps, 

 as for what he is, or is not. To eyes polite, he seems to be " off 

 color''; in the best society, he is looked upon as un pen compromise 

 There must be a reason for this the world is too busy to in- 

 vent reasons for things for there never was a popular verdict 

 without roots in some fact or principle. It is instinctive : the 

 school-boy despises a Catbird just as naturally as he stones a 

 frog ; and when he thinks a thing is mean, no argument will 

 convince him to the contrary. 



For myself, I think the boys are right. Like many of the 

 lower animals, they are quick to detect certain qualities, and 

 apt to like or dislike unwittingly, yet with good reason. The 

 matter with the Catbird is that he is thoroughly common-place. 

 There is a dead level of bird-life, as there is of humanity ; and 

 mediocrity is simply despicable hopeless and helpless, and 

 never more so than when it indulges aspirations. Yet it wears 

 well, and is a useful thing ; there must be a standard of meas- 

 ure, and a foil is often extremely convenient. The Catbird has 

 certainly a good deal to contend with. His name has a flip- 

 pant sound, without agreeable suggestiveness. His voice is 

 vehement without strength, unpleasant in its explosive quality. 

 His dress is positively ridiculous who could hope to rise in 

 life wearing a pepper-and-salt jacket, a black velvet skull-cap, 

 and a large red patch on the seat of his pantaloons ? Add to 

 all this the possession of some very plebeian tastes, like those 

 which in another case render beer-gardens, circuses, and street- 

 shows things possible, and you will readily perceive that a hero 

 cannot be made out of a Catbird. 



But to be common-place is merely to strike the balance of a 

 great number of positive qualities, no single one of which is to 

 be overlooked. It is accomplished by a sort of algebraic proc- 

 ess, in which all the terms of an equation are brought to- 

 gether on one side, which then equals zero. There is said to 

 be a great deal of human nature in mankind, and I am sure 

 there is as much bird-nature in the feathered tribe. There is 

 as much life in the kitchen as in the parlor : it is only a mat- 

 ter of a flight of stairs between them. We who happen to be 

 above know none too much of what goes on below much 

 less, I suspect, than the basse-cour often learns of the salon and 

 the boudoir. I sometimes fancy that the Catbird knows us 



