THE MOCKING BIRD. 67 



Are hardy birds, easily kept, sing six or eight months in the 

 year, and are most lively in wet weather. They an 

 generally known by the names, Red-Bird, Virginia Red- 

 Bird, Virginia Nightingale, and Crested Red-Bird, to distin- 

 guish them from another beautiful species, the Scarlet 

 Tanager. 



I do not know that any successful attempts have been 

 made to induce these birds to pair and breed in confinement ; 

 but I have no doubt of its practicability, by proper manage- 

 ment. Some months ago, I placed a young, unfledged 

 cow-bird, whose mother, like the cuckoo of Europe, aban- 

 dons her eggs and progeny to the mercy and management 

 of other smaller birds, in the same cage with a Red-Bird, 

 which fed and reared it with great tenderness. They both 

 continue to inhabit the same cage, and I have hopes that 

 the Red-Bird will finish his pupil's education by teaching 

 him his song. 



THE MOCKING BIRD. (Mimus Fb^glottua.) 



This splendid songster is not remarkable for the beauty 

 of his plumage. His general colour is ashy, whitish beneath, 

 tips of the wing-coverts and lateral tail-feathers white; 

 fenenJ form slender and graceful; length xune inches and 

 * half, extent thirteen inohos. He is found in various parti 



