The Thrush Tribe. 



mer, the millstone, the grindstone, ungreased wheels, 

 etc., the barking of dogs, the lowing of cattle, and so 

 on. Its own natural song is very sweet, and it sings 

 during the night as well as in the daytime. Some 

 amateurs consider its song superior to that of the 

 Nightingale, but it varies very much in individuals, 

 and the only way to keep it pure would be to exclude 

 from the bird's ears all other notes and sounds. Its 

 powers of mimicry are so great that it continually de- 

 ceives the other birds, sometimes calling them round 

 it at the supposed cry of their mates, sometimes driving 

 them in alarm to the shelter of the thick bushes, by 

 imitating the cry of a fierce bird of prey. I have heard 

 of a Mocking Bird brought to England as a cage bird, 

 who collected a mob round his cage in a fashionable 

 street in London, and caused his owners so much an- 

 noyance thus that they were obliged to part with him. 

 Every cry or noise that reached his ear was copied to 

 perfection ; and as it was impossible to prevent him 

 from catching up and repeating the most disagreeable 

 and discordant sounds, he became a very unpleasant 

 inmate of the house. The Mocking Bird can easily 

 be tamed, if taken young from the nest, and might be 

 brought up on the same food as that given to the 

 Thrush : it feeds on insects, berries, and grain. The 

 male bird is of a dull ashen brown, with a band of 

 white on the wings ; the two external feathers of the 

 tail are also white, the centre feathers brown-black. 



