98 MOCKING-BIRD. 



by the same person, until the scholar, who is seldom inat- 

 tentive, has completely acquired his lesson. The best singing 

 birds, however, in my own opinion, are those that have been 

 reared in the country, and educated under the tuition of the 

 feathered choristers of the surrounding fields, groves, woods, and 

 meadows. 



The plumage of the Mocking-bird, though none of the home- 

 liest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it, and, had he nothing 

 else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice, 

 but his figure is well proportioned, and even handsome. 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 peculiari- 

 ty of his genius. To these qualities we may add that of a voice full, 

 strong, and 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 preeminent over every compe- 

 titor. 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 inter- 

 spersed with imitations, and all of them uttered with great 

 emphasis and rapidity; and continued, with undiminished ar- 

 dour, for half an hour, or an hour at a time. His expanded 

 wings and tail, glistening with white, and the buoyant gayety 

 of his action, arresting the eye, as his song most irresistibly does 

 the ear. He sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstasy he mounts 



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