584 MOCKING-BIRD 
conspicuous courage, and the 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 songstérs 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, 
Harporhynchus 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. ‘T’o 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 air 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 
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