330 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



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 depth of thickets, at the scream of what they 

 suppose to be the sparrow-hawk. 



" The mocking-bird loses little of the power and 

 energy of his song by confinement. In his domesti- 

 cated state, when he commences his career of song, it 

 is impossible to stand by uninterested. He whistles 

 for the dog ; Ca?sar 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 con- 

 siderable length, fully and faithfully. He runs over 

 the quaverings of the canary, and the clear whistlings 

 of the Virginia 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, in 

 the opinion of some, injures his song. His elevated 

 imitations of the brown thrush are frequently inter- 

 rupted by the crowing of cocks; and the warblings of 

 the blue-bird, which he exquisitely manages, are min- 

 gled with the screaming of swallows, or the cackling 

 of hens ; amidst the simple melody of the robin we 

 are suddenly surprised by the shrill reiterations of the 

 whip-poor-will; while the notes of the kildeer, the blue 



