BIRD CURIOS. 25 



and brought me to a full stop. It swept down lilt- 

 ingly from a high, bushy bank some rods back from 

 the stream, and at once proclaimed itself as the 

 rhapsody of the cat- bird. Anxious to watch the 

 brilliant vocalist in his singing attitudes, I ap- 

 proached the acclivity, and soon espied him in the 

 midst of the dense copse, which was not yet covered 

 with foliage. He redoubled his efforts when he saw 

 an appreciative auditor standing near. Presently a 

 quaint impulse seized his throbbing, music-filled 

 bosom. He swung gracefully to the ground, picked 

 up a fragment of newspaper, leaped up to his perch 

 again, and then, holding the paper harp in his beak, 

 resumed his song with more vigor than before. All 

 the while his beady eyes sparkled with good-natured 

 raillery, as if he expected me to laugh at his unique 

 performance ; and, of course, I was able to accom- 

 modate him without half an effort. An errant gust 

 of wind suddenly wrenched the bit of paper from 

 his bill and bore it to the ground. The minstrel 

 darted after, and straightway recovered his elusive 

 prize, flew up to his perch, and again roused the 

 echoes of woodland and vale with his rollicking 

 song, the paper harp imparting a peculiar resonance 

 to his tones ; while his air of banter seemed to 

 challenge me to a musical contest. I laughingly 

 declined in the interest of my own reputation. 



He was one of the choicest minstrels of bird land 

 I have ever heard, — barring the sex, a Jenny Lind 

 or an Adelina Patti, — his voice being of excellent 

 timbre, his tones pure and liquid, and his technical 



