Catbird is, conversely, nearest to man, 

 building his home in the low bushes 

 within easy range of his inspection and 

 supervision ; accomplishing his spring 

 "flitting," — when such a cataclasm is ren- 

 dered necessary through human or feline 

 interference — in fond imitation, some 

 believe, of a familiar human spectacle, by 

 carrying the half-dressed progeny pick-a- 

 back ; singing to man and posing to him 

 as none other does ; and if sometimes his 

 audience "gapes for wonderment," as did 

 the one Samuel Coleridge observed, 



When the long-breathed singer's uptrilled 



strain 

 Bursts in a squall, — 



it is because he shares the human belief 

 in the virtue of occasional discord to 

 enhance the value and effect of harmo- 

 nious passages. 



If not entirely an original composer, 

 he gives so elegant and studied a turn to 

 his variations upon the themes of other 

 masters, as to establish himself as the 

 avian exemplification of William Ros- 

 setti's "Emerson," — that he is "not essen- 

 tially a poet, as he is a Druid that wan- 

 ders among the bards, and strikes the 

 harp with more than bardic stress," — 



"And gushing then such a melody 

 As harp-strings make when a sprite goes by." 



Mr. Chapman thinks it unfortunate 

 that the Catbird's name should have 

 originated in his call-note, which to him 

 is one of the most disagreeable sounds in 

 nature; and Audubon, saying that ''the 

 vulgar name which this species bears has 

 probably rendered it more conspicuous 

 than it would otherwise be," adds, that 

 "the name has also served to bring it into 

 some degree of contempt with persons not 

 the best judges of the benefits it confers 

 upon the husbandman." 



As between those who laud his studied 

 eloquence, and those who deride his 

 unlovely call and unassuming vesture, he 

 who would cull amid the flowers of 

 speech of ornithological biographers 

 must, in the case of this accomplished 

 polyglot more than of any other of the 

 avian hordes, preface his accumulated 

 researches with Dido's philosophical dic- 

 tum, "Tros Tyriusqtte mihi nullo dis- 

 crimine agetur." For while there are 

 many who would confer upon him the 



title earned by his cultured and intricate 

 recital, as Primo Tenore in the feathered 

 opera, to others he is as the clown wli se 

 sober garb is but an enhancement to his 

 oddity, to emphasize his "gay buffooner- 

 ies." 



Miss Florence A. Merriam found him, 

 "the most interesting and most exasper- 

 ating of birds." * * * "High trees 

 have an unsocial aspect, and so as Low- 

 ell says, 'The Catbird croons in the lilac 

 bush.' Like some people, he seems to 

 give up his time to the pleasure of hear- 

 ing himself talk. A first cousin of the 

 mockingbird, — whom he resembles in 

 person much more than in voice, — per- 

 haps the relationship accounts for his 

 overweening confidence in his vocal 

 powers. As a matter of fact, his jerky 

 utterance is so harsh that it has been 

 aptly termed asthmatic. 



"The Catbird is unmistakably a Bohe- 

 mian. He is exquisitely formed, and has 

 a beautiful slate-grey coat, set off by his 

 black head and tail. By nature he is 

 peculiarly graceful, and when he chooses 

 can pass for the most polished of the 

 Philistine aristocracy. But he cares noth- 

 ing for all this. With lazy self-indulgence 

 he sits by the hour with relaxed muscles 

 and listless, drooping wings and tail. If 

 he were a man, you feel confident that he 

 would sit in his shirt sleeves at home, and 

 go on the street without a collar. 



"And his occupation ? His cousin is an 

 artist, but he is a wag as well as cari- 

 caturist, or is he in sober earnest when 

 he tries to imitate the inimitable Wilson's 

 thrush? If a wag, he is a success, for 

 he deceives the unguarded into believing 

 him a robin, a cat, and a 'bird new to 

 science.' How he must chuckle over the 

 enthusiasm which hails his various notes, 

 and the bewilderment and chagrin that 

 come to the diligent observer who finally 

 catches a glimpse of the garrulous 

 mimic." 



Dr. Coues accounts for the "vulgar 

 prejudice against this bird," by the 

 hypothesis that the Catbird is thoroughly 

 commonplace. "There is a dead level of 

 bird life," he says, "as there is of human- 

 ity ; 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 



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