NEST OF THE MOCKING-BIRD. 237 



clack of the hoppers, the dull, heavy blow of the mallet, and the cracking of splitting timbers, 

 the fragments of songs whistled by the laborers, the creaking of ungreased wheels, the neigh- 

 ing of horses, the plaintive baa of the sheep, and the deep lowing of the oxen, together with 

 all the innumerable and accidental sounds which are necessarily produced through human 

 means. Unfortunately, the bird is rather apt to spoil his own wonderful song by a sudden 

 introduction of one of these inharmonious sounds, so that the listener, whose ear is being 

 delighted with a succession of the softest and richest-toned vocalists, will suddenly be elec- 

 trified with the loud shriek of the angry hawk or the grating whirr of the grindstone. 



It is impossible to do justice to this most wonderful bird without quoting largely from 

 those writers who speak from personal experience, and I therefore take following passage 

 from Wilson : 



"In measure and accent he faithfully follows his originals; in force and sweetness of 

 expression he greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, mounted on the top of a 

 tall bush or half -grown tree, in the dawn of dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal 

 with a nuiltitude of warblers, his admirable song rises pre-eminent. Over every other com- 

 petitor the ear can listen to his music alone, to which that of all birds seems a mere accom- 

 paniment. 



"Neither is this strain altogether imitative. His own native notes, which are easily 

 distinguishable by such as are well acquainted with those of our various song-birds, are 

 full and bold, and varied seemingly beyond all limit. They consist of short expressions 

 of two or three, or at the most four or six syllables, generally interspersed with intonations, 

 and all of them uttered with great emphasis and rapidity, and continued with unlimited 

 ardor for half an hour or an hour at a time. His expanded wings and tail glistening with 

 white, and the buoyant gaiety of his action arresting the eye, as his cry most irresistibly does 

 the ear, he sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstasy, as he mounts or descends as his song swells 

 or dies away ; and as my friend Mr. Bartram has beautifully expressed it : 'He bounds aloft 

 with the celerity of an arrow, ^s if to recover or recall his veiy soul, expired in the last 

 elevated strain. 



"While thus exerting himself, a bystander destitute of sight would suppose that the 

 whole feathered tribe had assembled together on a trial of skill, each striving to produce his 

 utmost effect, so perfect are his imitations. He many times deceives the sportsman, and sends 

 him in search of birds that are perhaps not within miles of him, but whose notes he exactly 

 imitates. Even birds themselves are imposed upon by this admirable mimic, and are decoyed 

 by the fancied calls of their mates, or dive with precipitation into the depths of thickets at the 

 scream of what they suppose to be the sparrow hawk." 



It is a very remarkable circumstance that one single bird always assumes the mastery in 

 each district, and that whenever he begins to sing, the others cease from their performances, 

 and retire to a distance from the spot where the master bird has taken his stand, so that their 

 voices are only heard as if in distant echoes to his nobler strains. The bird can easily be tamed, 

 and when it turns out to be a good songster, is a most valuable bird, seventy-five dollars having 

 been offered and refused for a good specimen. I knew of one case where a young Mocking-bird 

 lived in a family for nearly two years, displaying its imitative talents in a very wonderful 

 manner. It thrived well, and died from the effect of an accident, its legs having been crushed 

 in a doorway. 



The male bird can be distinguished from the female by the breadth and pure tint of the 

 white band on the wings. In the adult bird, the white color ought to spread overall the primary 

 feathers, extending away below the white coverts ; the dark color of the back is also of a more 

 blackish hue. 



The nest of this bird is usually placed in some thick bush, and is in general very carefully 

 concealed. Sometimes, however, when the bird builds in localities where it knows that it will 

 be protected from human interference, it is quite indifferent about the concealment of its 

 home, and trusts to its own prowess for the defence of its mate and young. When engaged in 

 the business of incubation, the Mocking-bird suffers no foe to approach within the charmed 

 Circle of its home duties, and jealously attacks hawk, cat, or snake, in defence of its familv. 



