811 



MIMOSE^E. 



MIMUS. 



M. pudica has a prickly herbaceous stem, with the petioles and 

 peduncles more or less beset with stiff hairs or bristles ; leaves some- 

 what digitately pinnate, with 4 pinnae, each pinna bearing many pairs 

 of linear leaflets. It is a native of Brazil, and is commonly grown in 

 our gardens under the name of Sensitive Plant, the leaves falling on 

 the slightest touch. The roots of this plant and its allies emit a most 

 offensive smell, resembling the odour of a sewer at the time of 

 impending rain. The legumes of M. saponaria, according to Royle, 

 form a considerable article of commerce in India on account of their 

 saponaceous qualities. [SENSITIVE PLANTS.] 



(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom ; Don, DicUamydeow Plants.) 



MIMO'SEJi, a sub-order of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Leguminoxe, whose flowers are regular, the stamens long, usually 

 indefinite in number, and hypogynous, and the flowers valvate in 

 aestivation. They are in many cases polygamous, and their leaves are 

 always more or less compound. The principal genus of the division 

 is the Ar'tcifi. [ACACIA.] Mimosa itself consists of a considerable 

 number of species, many of which are remarkable for the irritability 

 of their leaves, a curious property which has always rendered them 

 objects of interest. [SENSITIVE PLANTS.] The species commonly 

 cultivated for the exhibition of this phenomenon is the Mimosa pudica, 

 a South American annual. Among the useful plauts belonging to 

 JUirnoieie, and not included in the genus Acacia, are the fngas sapida, 

 I. dulcit, I. biglobosa, and some others, whose pods contain a sweet 

 nutritioui fcecula, which renders them fit for food ; and several kinds 

 of Protoi.it, the astringency of whose pods and bark renders them 

 valuable for tanning purposes. In general, in the northern hemisphere, 

 Mimosetz are confined to tropical countries, or to those which have a 

 high summer heat ; but in the southern hemisphere they extend 

 beyond such limits, as in Van Diemen's Land, where Acacias, called 

 Wattles, are the commonest wood. [LEGDMINOS.E.] 



MIMULUS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Scoi-phulariactce. It has a tubular calyx, 5-angled and 5-toothed ; 

 corolla ringent, upper lip 2 lobed, lower one trifid, usually bigibbous 

 at the base, segments all flat ; stamens 4, didynamous, inclosed ; cells 

 of anthers diverging or divaricate, at length subconfluent; stigma 

 bilamellate ; capsule hardly furrowed, 2-valved, valves entire with 

 flat margins, dissepiment at length free ; placentas aduate. The 

 species are erect or procumbent, glabrous, rarely villous herbs, with 

 usually tetragonal stems ; leaves opposite, usually toothed, rarely quite 

 entire ; flowers axillary, solitary, pedicellate, superior ones sometimes 

 racemose. 



M. luteiti, Yellow-Flowered Monkey-Flower, has leaves closely 

 toothed, lower ones on long petioles, ovate or somewhat lyrate, supe- 

 rior ones rounded cordately, stem clasping ; calyx ovate, but campa- 

 nulato in the fructiferous state, with ovate-acute teeth, the upper 

 tooth larger. It is a native of Chili. Babington says it has become 

 naturalised in Great Britain. The corolla is yellow, with a dark mark 

 in the mouth. 



if. moschatui, Musk-Scented Monkey-Flower, has diffuse stems 

 clothed with woolly villi ; leaves petiolate, ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, 

 a little toothed, rounded at the base, rather pilose, and somewhat 

 clammy ; calyx tubular, but oblong in the fruit-bearing state, with 

 lanceolate unequal teeth. It is a native about the Columbia River, on 

 the north-west coast of America. The plant exhales a strong scent of 

 musk. The flowers are small and yellow. The plant is diffuse, rooting 

 at the base. 



(Don, Dichlamydeous Plants ; Babington, Manual of British Botany.) 



MIMUS, a genus of Birds belonging to the family Merulidie. 

 [Mvuun*] M. polyglottus (Boie), the Mocking Bird, the Mimic 

 Thrush, is the Tardui polygloltut of Linnseus, and the Orpheus poly- 

 i/iottus of Swainson. The male of this bird has the upper parts of the 

 head, neck, and back, dark brownish ash, and when new-moulted a 

 fine light gray ; wings and tail nearly black, the first and second rows 

 of coverts tipped with white; primary coverts in some males wholly 

 white, in others tinged with brown. Three first primaries white from 

 their roots as far as their coverts ; white on the next six, extending 

 from an inch to one and three-fourths farther down, descending equally 

 on both sides of the feather ; the tail is cuneiform, the two exterior 

 feathers wholly white, the rest, except the middle ones, tipped with 

 white ; chin white ; sides of the neck, breast, belly, and vent, a 

 brownish-white, much purer in wild birds than in those that have been 

 domesticated ; iris of the eye yellowish cream-coloured, inclining to 

 golden ; bill black, the base of the lower mandible whitish ; legs and 

 feet black and strong. 



Female very much resembling the male, but the white is less pure, 

 spreads over only seven or eight of the primaries, does not descend so 

 far, and extends considerably farther down on the broad than on the 

 narrow side of the feathers. The black is also more of a brownish 

 cast. 



Young birds with the breast spotted like that of a thrush : young 

 male with the white on the wing broader and of greater purity than 

 in the female. (Wilson.) 



The extraordinary vocal powers of this wonderful song-bird, and his 

 lively habita, as recorded by eye and ear witnesses, are so uncommon, 

 that we should think we were reading of some magical bird in a fairy 

 tale, did we not -know the fidelity and accuracy of the excellent 

 observers who describe it. Wilson thus portrays thin polyglot : 



" The ease, elegance, and rapidity of his movements, the animation 

 of his eye, and the intelligence he displays in listening and laying up 

 lessons 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, musical, 

 and capable of almost every modulation, 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 originals. 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 

 dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal with a multitude of 

 warblers, 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 accompaniment. Neither is this strain altogether 

 imitative. His own native notes, which are easily distinguishable by 

 such as are well acquainted with those of our various song-birds, are 

 bold and full, and varied seemingly beyond all limits. They consist 

 of short expressions of two, three, or at the most five or six syllables, 

 generally interspersed with imitations, and all of them uttered with 

 great emphasis and rapidity, and continued with undiminished ardour 

 for half an hour or an hour at a time. His expanded wings and tail, 

 glistening with white, and the 'buoyant gaiety of his action, arrest the 

 eye as his song most irresistibly does the ear. He sweeps round with 

 enthusiastic ecstacy ; he mounts and descends as his song swells and 

 dies away ; and, aa my friend Mr. Bartram has beautifully expressed it, 

 ' he bounds aloft with the celerity of an arrow, as if to recover or recal 

 his very soul, expired in the last elevated strain.' While thus exert- 

 ing himself, a bystander destitute of sight would suppose that the 

 whole feathered tribes had assembled together on a trial of skill, each 

 striving to produce his utmost effect, so perfect are his imitations. 

 He many times deceives the sportsman, and sends him in search of 

 birds that perhaps are not within miles of him, but whose notes he 

 exactly imitates ; even Birds themselves are frequently imposed on by 

 this admirable mimic, and are decoyed by the fancied calls of their 

 mates, or dive with precipitation into the depths of thickets at the 

 scream of what they suppose to be the sparrow-hawk. 



" The Mockiug-Bird loses little of the pow* and energy of his song 

 by confinement. In his domesticated state, when he commences his 

 career of song, it is impossible to stand by uninterested. He whistles 

 for the dog ; Csesar starts up, wags his tail, and runs to meet his 

 master. He squeaks out like a hurt chicken, and the hen hurries 

 about with hanging wings and bristled feathers, clucking to protect 

 its injured brood. The barking of the dog, the mewing of the cat, the 

 creaking of a passing wheelbarrow, follow with great truth and rapidity. 

 He repeats the tune taught him by his master, though of considerable 

 length, fully and faithfully. He runs over the quiverings of the canary 

 and the clear whistlings of the Virginian nightingale, or red-bird, with 

 such superior execution and effect, that the mortified songsters feel 

 their own inferiority, and become altogether silent, while he seems to 

 triumph in their defeat by redoubling his exertions. This excessive 

 fondness for variety however, hi the opinion of some, injures his song. 

 His elevated imitations of the brown thrush are frequently interrupted 

 by the crowing of cocks ; and the warblings of the blue-bird, which he 

 exquisitely manages, are mingled with the screaming of swallows or 

 the cackling of hens : amidst the simple melody of the robin we ara 

 suddenly surprised by the shrill reiterations of the whip-poor-will, 

 while the notes of the kill-deer, blue-jay, martin, baltimore, and twenty 

 others, succeed with such imposing reality, that we look round for tLe 

 originals, and discern with astonishment that the sole performer in 

 this singular concert is the admirable bird now before us. During 

 this exhibition of his powers he spreads his wings, expands his tail, 

 and throws himself around the cage in all the ecstacy of enthusiasm, 

 seeming not only to sing, but to dance, keeping time to the measure 

 of his own music. Both in his native and domesticated state, during 

 the solemn stillness of night, as soon as the moon rises in silent 

 majesty, he begins his delightful solo ; and serenades us the live-long 

 night with a full display of his vocal powers, making the whole 

 neighbourhood ring with his inimitable medley." 



Audubou is of opinion that' in song it is far beyond the nightingale. 

 He pronounces the notes of that bird to be equal to those of a sou- 

 brette of taste, who, could she study under a Mozart, might perhaps 

 iu time become very interesting in her way. But he thinks it quite 

 absurd to compare her essays to the finished talent of the Mocking 

 Bud. In confinement its melody, though vary beautiful, falls far 

 short, in his judgment, of its " wood-notes wild." He describes its 

 imitative powers as amazing, and says that these birds mimic with 

 ease all their brethren of the forests or of the waters, as well as 

 many quadrupeds ; but though he has heard that the bird possesses 

 the power of imitating the human voice, he never met with an instance 

 of that mimicry. 



The last-mentioned author gives us a most interesting detail of the 

 loves of these charming birds amid the rich scenery where the great 

 Magnolia, with its thousand beautiful flowers, Bignonias, the white- 

 flowered Stuartia, and the Golden Orange, are intertwined with 

 innumerable vines. " For awhile," continues this graphic describer, 

 " each long day and pleasant night are thus spent ; but at a peculiar 

 note of the female he ceases his song, and attends to her wishes. A 

 nest is to be prepared, and the choice of a place iu which to lay it is 



