172 



CHAPTER LXL 



THE MOCKIXG-BIRD. 



ENTHUSIASTIC Americans are never tired of loudly 

 proclaiming that the Mocking-bird, their best indigenous 

 songster, ''bangs all creation"; but we who are accustomed 

 to hear the JSTightingale, the Blackcap and the Thrush, are 

 compelled to demur to such a sweeping assertion; while at the 

 same time we are quite ready to admit that he possesses some 

 merit, if not quite as much as his countrymen fondly flatter 

 themselves, and would fain persuade us, he has. 



It would not be difficult to fill pages with the praises of 

 this bird, as sung by too partial American ornithologists, but 

 considerations of space, if nothing else, forbid. 



There are several kinds of Mocking-birds, but the species 

 of which the present chapter treats, is the Mocking-bird, ])ar 

 excellence^ the Tardus pohjglottus of scientific writers, and the 

 Spotdrossel of the Germans. 



It is a native of North America, migratory in the Northern, 

 and stationary in the Southern States of the Union. In size 

 it is somewhat less than our Song Thrush, to which it bears 

 a strong family likeness. The predominant colours of its 

 plumage are grey and white, variously blended with pleasing 

 effect all over the body. 



The male can be distinguished from the female by having 

 a wider band of white on his wing. 



The Mocking-bird is quite hardy, and will live for a number 

 of years, twelve or fifteen, or even more, in the house, where 

 he soon becomes very tame: he is best fed on Thrush's food, 

 that is, sop, fruit, insects of all kinds, a snail or a few small 

 garden worms now and then, and scraps of raw lean meat. 



