The Western Mockingbird 
“Trillets of humor,—shrewdest whistle-wit — 
Contralto cadences of grave desire, 
********* midnights of tone entire ,— 
Tissues of moonlight shot with songs of fire ;— 
Bright drops of tune from ocean's infinite 
Of melody, sipped off the thin-edged wave 
And trickling down the beak,—discourses brave 
Of serious matter that no man may guess ,— 
Good fellow greetings, cries of light distress" 
’Twas Sidney Lanier 
who with such unerring 
finger pointed out the 
cadence, the content, 
and the very spirit of 
the Mockingbird’s song. 
No admirer has done 
the bird more equal jus¬ 
tice and none is likely 
to. And it is no dispar- 
agement of other 
songsters to admit that 
the Mockingbird is the 
best-known and the 
best-famed of all Ameri¬ 
can song birds. In the 
mouths of the world’s 
best critics, only the 
Nightingales of Europe 
and the Bulbuls of the 
Orient are brought into 
comparison with the 
American Mockingbird. 
As virtuosos these others 
may possibly excel, but 
the Mockingbird gains 
a favorable decision, 
however biased, because 
he frankly commits his 
cause to human keeping. 
By establishing his mate 
in our climbing rose 
bush, and himself 
Taken at Los Colibris 
778 
Photo by the Author 
“TISSUES OF MOONLIGHT” 
