MOCKING BIRD. 32l 



at the distant western sources of the Platte, near the very 

 base of the Rocky Mountains ; * and Mr. Bullock saw it 

 in the table land of Mexico. The Mocking Bird rears 

 its young, and consequently displays its wonderful pow- 

 ers, in all the intermediate regions of its residence in the 

 United States to the peninsula of Florida, f It appears, 

 in short, permanently to inhabit the milder regions of the 

 western world in either hemisphere ;| and the individuals 

 bred north of the Delaware, on this side the equator, are 

 all that ever migrate from their summer residence. A 

 still more partial migration takes place also, probably, 

 from west to east, in quest of the food and shelter which 

 the maritime districts afford. Though now so uncommon 

 in that vicinity, 50 or 60 years ago, according to Bartram, 

 they even wintered near Philadelphia, and made a tem- 

 porary abode in the mantling ivy of his venerable mansion. 

 In summer, a few proceed as far as Rhode Island, fol- 

 lowing the mild temperature of the sea-coast ; but fur- 

 ther north, they are, I believe, nearly unknown, except 

 rarely and occasionally in Massachusetts. With the ad- 

 vance of the season, also, in the country which it inhab- 

 its, varies the time of incubation. Early in April they 

 begin to build in the maritime parts of Georgia, but not 

 before the middle of May in Pennsylvania. 



In the winter season they chiefly subsist on berries, 

 particularly those of the Virginia juniper (called red ce- 

 dar), wax myrtle, holly, smilax, sumach, sour-gum, and 

 a variety of others, which furnish them, and many other 

 birds, with a plentiful repast. Insects, worms, grass- 

 hoppers, and larvae, are the food on which they princi- 

 pally subsist, when so eminently vocal, and engaged in 



* Mr. Say. t Mr. Ware. 



I Mr Litchfield informs me, that the song of the Mocking-Bird is commonly heard 

 in Venezuela, where of course it breeds and permanently resides. 



