IMITATION AND MIMICRY. 209 



He adds in a note, that "a negress was once 

 heard to exclaim, ' Please God Almighty, how sweet 

 that mocking-bird sing ! he never tire !' By day and 

 night he sings alike; when weary of mocking oth- 

 ers, the bird takes up its own natural strain, and so 

 joyous a creature is it, that it will jump and dance 

 to its own music." 



By far the most circumstantial account, however, 

 of this wonderful bird is given by Wilson in a char- 

 acteristically graphic passage. " This celebrated 

 and very extraordinary bird," he says, " in extent 

 and variety of vocal powers, stands unrivalled by 

 the whole feathered songsters of this or perhaps 

 any other country ; and shall receive from us all 

 that attention and respect which superior merit is 

 justly entitled to. The plumage of the mocking-bird, 

 though none of the homeliest, has nothing gaudy or 

 brilliant in it ; and, had he nothing else to recom- 

 mend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice; 

 but his figure is well proportioned, and even hand- 

 some. The ease, elegance, and rapidity of his 

 movements, the animation of his eye, and the intel- 

 ligence he displays in listening and laying up les- 

 sons from almost every species of the feathered 

 creation within his hearing, are really surprising, 

 and mark the peculiarity of his genius. To these 

 qualities we may add that of a voice full, strong, 

 and musical, and capable of almost every modula- 

 tion, from the clear mellow tones of the wood- 

 thrush, to the savage scream of the bald eagle. In 

 measure and accent he faithfully follows his origi- 

 nals ; in force and sweetness of expression he 

 greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, 

 mounted on the top of a tall bush or half-grown 

 tree, in the dawn of the dewy morning, while the 

 woods are already vocal with a multitude of war- 

 blers, his admirable song rises pre-eminent over 

 every competitor. The ear can listen to his music 

 alone, to which that of all the others seems a mere 

 S2 



