128 FRESH FIELDS 



On the other hand, there are certain aspects in 

 which our songsters appear to advantage. That 

 they surpass the European species in sweetness, ten- 

 derness, and melody I have no doubt; and that our 

 mockingbird, in his native haunts in the South, 

 surpasses any bird in the world in fluency, variety, 

 and execution is highly probable. That the total 

 effect of his strain may be less winning and persua- 

 sive than the nocturne of the nightingale is the 

 only question in my mind about the relative merits 

 of the two songsters. Bring our birds together as 

 they are brought together in England, let all our 

 shy wood-birds like the hermit thrush, the veery, 

 the winter wren, the wood wagtail, the water wag- 

 tail, the many warblers, the several vireos be- 

 come birds of the groves and orchards, and there 

 would be a burst of song indeed. 



Bates, the naturalist of the Amazon, speaks of 

 a little thrush he used to hear in his rambles that 

 showed the American quality to which I have 

 referred. "It is a much smaller and plainer- colored 

 bird," he says, "than our [the English] thrush, and 

 its song is not so loud, varied, or so long sustained ; 

 here the tone is of a sweet and plaintive quality, 

 which harmonizes well with the wild and silent 

 woodlands, where alone it is heard in the mornings 

 and evenings of sultry, tropical days." 



I append parallel lists of the better- known Ameri- 

 can and English song-birds, marking in each with 

 an asterisk, those that are probably the better song- 

 sters ; followed by a list of other American songsters, 



