ISO IN BIRD LAND. 



ill my opinion, such vocal coincidences, whether 

 accidental or designed, are of rare occurrence. 



Since the foregoing observations were made and 

 first published, I have often sought to prove them 

 untrue, but have failed. No thrasher has ever, in 

 my hearing, unmistakably plagiarized a single strain 

 from his fellow-musicians. Fearing my ear for music 

 might be defective, rendering me incapable of distin- 

 guishing correctly the various songs of birds, I put 

 myself to the test in this way : On one of the streets 

 of my native town there is a brilliant mocking-bird, 

 whose cage is often hung out on a veranda. Again 

 and again I have stopped to listen to his ringing 

 medley, and have never failed to hear him distinctly 

 mimic the songs and calls of other birds, such as 

 the robin, blue jay, cardinal grossbeak, and red- 

 headed woodpecker. Why should I be able in- 

 stantly to detect the notes of other birds in the 

 mocker's song and never once be able to detect 

 them in the song of the thrasher ? 



But it is fully time to return to my ramble. The 

 gifted songster in the tree-top would sometimes pipe 

 a strain of such exquisite sweetness that it seemed 

 to surprise himself; he would pause a moment, as if 

 to reflect upon it and fix it in mind for future use ; 

 and erelong he would repeat it, reminding his ad- 

 miring auditor of Browning's lines on the Wise 

 Thrush, — 



" He sings each song twice over, 

 Lest you should think he never could recapture 

 The first fine careless rapture." 



