A BIRDS' GALA-DAY. 149 



On the other hand, this tawny vocalist utters musi- 

 cal strains that are entirely unlike anything else in 

 the whole realm of bird minstrelsy, proving his song 

 to be characteristic. The brown thrasher is not a 

 musical pirate, but an original composer, — a sort of 

 Mozart or Beethoven in the bird world. And how 

 wonderful are some of his slurred runs ! Nothing 

 in the domain of music could be finer, and the harsh 

 notes he frequently interpolates only serve to ac- 

 centuate and enhance the melody of those that are 

 truly lyrical. 



In his engaging book entitled " Birds in the Bush," 

 Bradford Torrey, who is second to none in the school 

 of popular writers on feathered folk, characterizes this 

 tawny vocalist in a most admirable manner. How- 

 ever, in regard to the matter of mimicry, his obser- 

 vations differ slightly from my own; yet I gladly 

 quote what he says rather incidentally on the subject. 

 One day he was listening to three thrashers singing 

 simultaneously. " In the midst of the hurly-burly," 

 he writes, " one of the trio suddenly sounded the 

 whippoorwill's call twice, — an absolutely perfect re- 

 production." Then he adds, somewhat jocosely, in 

 a foot-note : " The ' authorities ' long since forbade 

 Harporhynchus rufus to play the mimic. Probably in 

 the excitement of the moment this fellow forgot him- 

 self." Of course, one cannot gainsay the testimony 

 of so careful an observer and so conscientious a re- 

 porter as Mr. Torrey; yet it is possible that this 

 whippoorwill call was only a slip of the thrasher's 

 voice and not an intended imitation ; at all events. 



