Mbere tbe /lftocfnng*=bir^ SiwQS 



embowered domestic centers, the ancient 

 hereditament of migration and is rapidly 

 degenerating. An easy hfe and a diet 

 quite different from what the old wander- 

 ing experience afforded has greatly in- 

 jured him. Dissection has shown me that 

 while the migrants are always in perfect 

 health the residents are subject to a fatty 

 degeneracy of the vital organs. Evidently 

 this difference is due to the change from 

 a natural and wholesome life to one charged 

 with the evils of semi-domestication. 



Some naturalists with whom I have 

 conversed hold to the theory that the 

 resident mocking-birds and the migrant 

 ones are separated by a specific difference 

 in nature not marked by any external 

 badge ; but it is plain to my mind that 

 the difference is mere degeneracy of those 

 birds which have, out of sheer laziness, 

 taken up with a life of ease, and to a cer- 

 tain degree debauchery, offered to them 

 by the orchards, vineyards, and berry- 

 patches of mankind. 



The resident mocking-birds are mar- 

 velous singers, but I have to conclude that 

 71 



