252 THE MOCKINGBIRD. 



Range in Ohio. Found frequently but not regularly during breeding season, 

 southern portion ; breeds occasionally in southeast portion. Rare or accidental 

 elsewhere. Formerly reported breeding near Cleveland. Casual in winter (two 

 records). 



in 



THE Mockingbird is the acknowledged chief of American songsters, 

 and is declared by many connoisseurs both at home and abroad to be the best 

 in the world. Its claim to supremacy is stoutly contested by the friends of 

 the Nightingale, and the endless discussion of their comparative merits 

 still goes on. Instead of presuming to decide between the rival claimants, one 

 may be permitted to point out the futility of comparisons. Enjoyment of 

 bird music is so largely a matter of training, temperament and association, 

 and the music itself so diverse in conception and execution, that compari- 

 sons are meaningless. As well try to decide the relative merits of the keys 

 of E flat and C sharp, or of the violet and the blue rays of the solar spectrum. 

 Things which belong to the same order may still be incomparable. 



Certainly, however, as a mimic the Mockingbird has no peer. Nothing 

 in bird song seems beyond him. His memory is prodigious and his artistic 

 feeling admirable. Great individual differences exist among the performers. 

 Other things being equal advancing age confers increasing skill. All malebirds, 

 except the very youngest, may be able to imitate accurately, but some impart an 

 artistic interpretative quality, which enables them easily to surpass their models. 

 Thus a caged Mocker belonging to a Dr. Golz of Berlin captivated the heart 

 of cultured Europe, and the hall of avian fame is still ringing with his praises. 



A captive specimen I once observed in Oberlin proclaimed unconscious- 

 ly the history of his early life. He reproduced not merely the bird songs of 

 the village, but those of the wildwood as well, where he must have been reared. 

 Besides these the various songs and noises to be heard in the average bird- 

 store were faithfully presented. Some of his mimicry was irresistibly fetch- 

 ing, and I stood rooted to the pavement as the bird sang from a suspended cage 

 at some distance. "What puzzled me most, however, about his performance 

 was that he always stood silent whenever a bantam rooster, some two blocks 

 or so away, crowed. When his mistress assured me that it was the Mocking- 

 bird that crowed, I could scarcely believe my ears. Having always heard the 

 rooster at a distance the Mocker reproduced the sound in exactly the same 

 way, with the ventriloquistic effort manifestly resulting. The crowing of the 

 bantam was a favorite trick of his, and J noticed that he usually followed it by 

 the scream of a Hawk. The challenge of the cock followed by the cry of his 

 enemy was certainly as clever a piece of stage-work as ever a glee club did 

 in a melange. In the course of a quarter of an hour songs and cries of the 

 following birds were recognized : Robin, Cuckoo, Flicker, Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker, Red-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Yellow-breasted Chat, Purple Martin, 

 Red-shouldered Hawk, Flycatchers (probably Green-crested) fighting, Barn- 



