It’s time at last to discuss the most celebrated songbird on the continent: the northern mockingbird. As Audubon put it, “the extent of its compass, the great brilliancy of execution, are unrivaled.

What do the remarkably complex songs of the mockingbird have in common with Tuvan throat singing, Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony,” the song “Show Yourself” from Frozen 2, and Kendrick Lamar‘s “Duckworth” ...