APPENDIX. 159 
Cat-bird. (See p. 52.) 
“Next after the thrasher and the mocking-bird, ‘ prince of song,’ the 
palm must be awarded to this humble tenant of the shrubbery for power 
of mimicry and range of vocalization, as well as for sweetness of execution 
in singing.” —Stearns, W. A.. N. E. Bird-life (ed. by Dr, E. Coues), parti. 
p. 64, 
See Our Birds. (New Eng. Mag, vol. i., 1831, pp. 227-230.) 
Brown Thrush. (See p. 54.) 
“Our brown thrush is a magnificent singer, albeit he is not of the best 
school, being too ‘sensational’ to suit the most exacting taste. His song 
is a grand improvisation: a good deal jumbled, to be sure, and without 
any recognizable form or theme; and yet, like a Liszt rhapsody, it per- 
fectly answers its purpose, — that is, it gives the performer full scope to 
show what he can do with his instrument. You may laugh a little, if you 
like, at an occasional grotesque or overwrought passage, but unless you 
are well used to it you will surely be astonished. Such power and range 
of voice; such startling transitions; such endless variety! And withal 
such boundless enthusiasm and almost incredible endurance! Regarded 
as pure music, one strain of the hermit thrush is to my mind worth the 
whole of it; just asa single movement of Beethoven’s is better than a 
world of Liszt transcriptions. But in its own way it is unsurpassable.” — 
Torrey, B.: Birds in the Bush, p. 117. 
“The song of this bird is difficult of description : it is a sort of confused 
mixture of the notes of different birds, or rather seems to be, but is really 
its own song, as different individuals all sing nearly alike. The fact 
that it resembles the Mocking-bird in its medley of notes has caused it 
to be called, in some localities, the Brown Mocker; and it is also sometimes 
called the Mavis and Nightingale, from its habit of singing in the night 
during the mating season.”— Samuels, E. A.: Our Northern and Eastern 
Birds, p. 165. 
For a tribute to the thrasher’s genius by one that “ crowns and anoints 
him Prince of the Poets of the Wild-wood,” see Munger, C. A.: “Four 
Amer. Birds.” (Putnam’s Mag., n. 8. vol. iii., 1869, pp. 728-729.) 
Nicut Sones. 
This nightingale by no means has the night to himself. 
Not to speak of our home birds, the choir of his fellow 
