178 



BRANCH VERTEBRATA. 



FIG. 306. 



The Thrushes are found in all parts of the world. 



The bird organization 

 reaches in them its high- 

 est development. 



The Mocking-bird* is 

 remarkable for its varied 

 melody and wonderful 

 power of imitation, t 



The Robin alone of its 

 family seems to court the 



Mi' mus -pot y glot' tus. Mocking-bird. ( {.) 



society of man, following 



close upon the plow and spade, and often nesting in a 

 corner of the piazza. It is a ground bird, seldom picking 

 worms from a tree, and 

 never catching them as they 

 dangle in the air, but snap- 

 ping them up the moment 

 they touch the sod. One of 

 the earliest-comers and lat- 

 est-goers of the migratory 

 birds, no one labors more 

 zealously in the service of 



Tur' dm mi grata' rim. Robin. ( .'.) 



all, or, in comparison with 



the good it does, takes a smaller amount of toll.J 



FIG. 307. 



* Southern Pennsylvania is the usual northernmost limit of the Mocking bird, 

 although it has been known to breed for successive years in Massachusetts. 



t There are few songs or sounds which it does not mimic so perfectly as to 

 deceive the most experienced ear. As it pours forth its medley of harmonious 

 music and discordant noise, birds answer to what they think is the call of their 

 mates, or the scream of the hawk ; the dog hastens to what he imagines the 

 whistle of his master ; the hen hurries at the fancied cry of her frightened brood, 

 and the child runs to the window, attracted by the supposed sound of a creaking 

 wheelbarrow. 



t However voraciously he may for a single month feed upon strawberries 

 and cherries, the rest of the season he serves both the horticulturist and the 

 agriculturist. In nothing is he injurious to the latter; while to both he is in- 



