MOCKING-BIRD. 99 



and descends as his song swells or dies away; and, as 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 

 exerting 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 per- 

 fect 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 mim- 

 ic, 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 domesticated state, when he com- 

 mences his career of song, it is impossible to stand by uninter- 

 ested. He whistles for the dog; Caesar 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 feath- 

 ers, clucking to protect its injured brood. The barking of the 

 dog, the mewing of the cat, the creaking of a passing wheel- 

 barrow, 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 theVirginia Nightingale, or Red-bird, 

 with such superior execution and effect, that the mortified song- 

 sters feel their own inferiority, and become altogether silent; 

 while he seems to triumph in their defeat by redoubling his ex- 

 ertions. 



This excessive fondness for variety, however, in 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 

 * Travels, p. 32. Introd. 



