A BIRDS GALA-DAY. 143 



On the first day of April the first Bewick's wren of 

 the spring appeared, but, strange to say, not another 

 wren was seen until near the end of the month. A 

 single bird often goes ahead of the main body of 

 migrants like a scout or outrider; while not infre- 

 quently a small company precedes the approach- 

 ing army in the capacity, perhaps, of an advance 

 guard. 



Threading my way through the " dim vistas, 

 sprinkled o'er with sun-flecked green," to an open 

 space near the border of the woods, I had the 

 opportunity of listening to an improvised cat-bird 

 concert, without a cent of charge for admission. 

 Here some mental notes were made on the vocal 

 qualities of this bird in comparison with those of 

 the celebrated brown thrasher, and with some 

 hesitancy I give my conclusions. Each songster 

 has his special points of excellence. .The thrasher 

 has more voice volume than his rival, his technique 

 is better, he glides more smoothly from one part 

 of his song to another, and executes several runs 

 that for pure melody and skill in rendering go 

 beyond the cat-bird's ability; but, on the other 

 hand, it must be said that the latter minstrel's song 

 contains fewer harsh, coarse, unmusical notes; his 

 voice, on the whole, is of a finer quality, is pitched 

 to a higher key, and his vocal performances are char- 

 acterized by greater artlessness or naivete. Though 

 professing to be no connoisseur, I have never felt so 

 deeply stirred by the thrasher's as by the cat-bird's 

 minstrelsy. There does not seem to be so much 



