The Mocking Bird {Mlmus polyglottos polyglottos) 

 John James Audubon 



Length: 9 to 11 inches. 



Range: U. S., south to Mexico. 



Food : Fruits, grasshoppers, cotton worms, chinch bugs, weevils and boll 

 worms. 



It is where the great magnolia shoots up its majestic trunk, crowned with 

 evergreen leaves and decorated with a thousand beautiful llowers, that perfume 

 the air; where the forests and fields are adorned with blossoms of every hue; 

 where the golden orange ornaments the gardens and groves; where bignonias 

 interlace their climbing stems around the white-flowered stuartia, and mounting 

 still higher, cover the summits of lofty trees ; where a genial warmth seldom 

 forsakes the atmosphere; where berries and fruits of all descriptions are met 

 with at every step. In a word, where Nature seems to have strewedwith un- 

 sparing hand all the beautiful and splendid forms which I should in vain attempt 

 to describe, that the IMocking Bird should have fixed its abode, there only that 

 its wondrous song should be heard. 



But where is that favored land? It is in Louisiana that these bounties of 

 nature are in the greatest perfection. It is there that you should listen to tlie 

 love-song of the Mocking Bird, as I at this moment do. See how he flies round 

 his mate, with motions as light as those of the butterfly. His tail is widely ex- 

 panded, he mounts in the air to a short distance, describes a circle, and, again 

 alighting, approaches his beloved one, his eyes gleaming with delight. His beau- 

 tiful wings are gently raised, he bows to his love, and, again bouncing" upward, 

 opens his bill and pours forth his melody. 



They are not the soft sounds of the flute or of the hautboy that I hear, 

 but the sweet notes of Nature's own music. The mellowness of the song, the 

 varied modulations and gradations, the extent of its compass, the great brilliancy 

 of execution, are unrivaled. There is probably no bird in the world that pos- 

 sesses all the musical qualifications of this king of song. 



For a while, each long day and pleasant night are thus spent in singing; 

 but at a pccuHar note of tiie female he ceases his song, and attends to her wishes. 

 A nest is to be prepared, and the choice of a place in which to lay it is to become 

 a matter of mutual consideration. The orange, the fig, the pear tree of the gar- 

 dens arc inspected; the thick Ijrier ]iatches are also visitc(l. They ajipcar all so 

 well suited to the purpose in view, and so well does the bird know that man is 

 not his most dangerous enemy, that instead of retiring from him. thev at length 

 fix their abode in his vicinity, pcrh;ip-; in the tree nearest to his window. Dried 

 twigs, leaves, grasses, cotton, llax. antl ether substances are picked up. carried to 

 a forked branch, and there arranged. I'ive eggs arc deposited in due time, when 

 the ni.ik'. ha\ing little more to ifo than to sing, attunes his pi|<e anew. Everv 

 now and then he spies an insect on the ground. lie drops upon it. takes it in his 



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