584 



MOCKING-BIRD 



conspicuous courage, and tlie intruder is frequently compelled to 

 withdraw, while the victorious bird announces the result of the 

 encounter with a perfect medley of his richest vocalizations, 

 which are usually poured forth from the top of the tree or bush 

 containing his nest. 



Were what we have given in the foregoing account of the 

 Mocking-bird all that goes to make up his life-history, he would 

 pass among his Class as a very ordinary representative of it indeed ; 

 it is not, however, for any of the traits or habits thus far 

 enumerated that he has become one of the most famous of his tribe. 

 He is, as every student of nature knows, one of the most extra- 

 ordinary songsters of the entire world's avifauna. As an imitator 

 of the songs or cries of every other species of bird he has ever 

 listened to, the Mocking-bird probably stands without a rival in 

 the entire Class, but in addition to this power he possesses native 

 notes of great purity, strength, energy, and sweetness. To some 

 degree these latter resemble the notes of the Brown Thrasher, 

 Harporhynclius rufus, but are of greater variety and far richer. 



For thorough appreciation, one should catch him upon a 

 dewy morning just as the sun rises, and he flits to the top 

 of some low tree to pour forth his medley of carols in soul-felt 

 welcoming. This may be in some quarter of the sunny south, 

 perhaps near the manor-house of some broad plantation, where 

 not only can he imitate any individual of the host of native 

 songsters about him, but vary the strain with any of those familiar 

 sounds heard about the house and barn-yard. To see that little 

 feathered being so brimful of ecstasy, replete with action and anima- 

 tion, drooping his wings, spreading his tail, so buoyant as hardly 

 to be able to retain his perch, while the air is actually filled with 

 his inimitable musical performances, is a sight not likely to be for- 

 gotten. Clearly, and with the greatest possible accuracy and 

 rapidity, and with a mellow strength even exceeding the originals, 

 he utters the notes and calls of twenty or more birds in succes- 

 sion, ranging all the way from the plaintive air of the Blue-Bird 

 to the harsh, discordant cries of Jays, Sparrow-Hawks, and even 

 with equal compass the vociferations of an Eagle. Catching breath, 

 and tossing himself lightly into the aii* above his perch, he alarms 

 the entire feathered community assembled by his imitating the 

 cries of a wounded birdling in the talons of a Hawk ; this is 

 followed perhaps by the crowing of a Cock or the vociferous note of 

 the Whip-poor-will, and the very incongruity appears to put his 

 feathered listeners to shame at the hoax. 



Caging seems hardly to diminish his powers, and he will sing 

 with the greatest energy the best part of a moonlit night, as 

 lustily as though he were free in his native haunts. But enough : 

 to have one appreciate the Mocking-bird he must be heard, and he 



