158 



THE MOCKING BIRD. 



MOCKIXO BIRD. 



any independent merit. A Garrick and a Foote have not pleased 

 more in their own characters, than the Mocking Bird does in his. He 



is the only one of the 

 American singing- 

 birds that can be com- 

 pared with those of 

 Europe ; and, were it 

 not for the attention 

 that he pays to every 

 sort of disagreeable 

 noise, which tends to 

 debase his best notes,, 

 there can be little 

 doubt that he would 

 be fully equal to the 

 song of the Night- 

 ingale in its whole 

 compass. He fre- 

 quents the dwellings 

 of the American 

 farmers; where^ 

 sitting on the roof or 

 chimney, he sometimes pours forth the most sweet and varied notes 

 imaginable. The Mexicans, on account of his various notes and his 

 imitative powers, call him, "The Bird of Four Hundred Tongues." 

 In the warmer parts of America he sings incessantly from March to 

 August, both day and night : beginning with his own compositions, 

 and frequently finishing by borrowing from those of the whole 

 feathered choir. He repeats his tunes with such artful sweetness as 

 to excite both pleasure and surprise. 



It is not, however, in the powers of voice alone that these birds are 

 pleasing ; they may even be said to dance. When excited into a kind 

 of ecstacy by their own music, they gradually raise themselves from 

 the place where they stand, and, with their wings extended, drop with 

 their head down to the same spot, and whirl round, accompanying 

 their melody with a variety of interesting gesticulations. 



They frequently build their nests in bushes or fruit-trees, in the 

 vicinity of houses ; but they are so shy, that if a person only look at 

 the nest, they immediately forsake it. The young-ones may be brought 

 up in a cage, and rendered domestic ; but this cannot be done without 

 great dif&culty, not one attempt in ten being successful for that purpose. 

 If the young-ones are caught in the nest, the mother will feed them for 

 a few days, but is sure to desert them afterwards. If a cat happen tO' 

 approach the nest, the parent bird will fly at the head of the animal 

 and, with a hissing noise, scare it away. 



The Mocking Bird feeds its young-ones with Grasshoppers ; and, 

 when it wants any of these insects, it flies into the pastures, flaps it» 

 wrings near the ground, and makes a booty of three or four at a time, 

 with which it returns to the nest. It also feeds on different kinds oi 

 berries ; and is itself eaten, and is very delicate food. 



