100 MOCKING-BIRD. 



hens; amidst the simple melody of the Robin we are suddenly 

 surprised by the shrill reiterations of the Whippoorwill; while 

 the notes of the Kildeer, Blue Jay, Martin, Baltimore, and 

 twenty others, succeed, with such imposing reality, that we look 

 round for the originals, and discover, 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 ecstasy 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. * 



Were it not to seem invidious in the eyes of foreigners, I might 

 in this place make a comparative statement between the powers 

 of the Mocking-bird, and the only bird I believe in the world 

 worthy of being compared with him, the European Nightin- 

 gale. This, however, I am unable to do from my own observa- 

 tion, having never myself heard the song of the latter; and even 

 if I had, perhaps something might be laid to the score of parti- 

 ality, which, as a faithful biographer, I am anxious to avoid. I 

 shall, therefore, present the reader with the opinion of a distin- 



* The hunters in the southern states, when setting out upon an excursion 

 by night, as soon as they hear the Mocking-bird begin to sing know that the 

 moon is rising. 



A certain anonymous author, speaking of the Mocking-birds in the island 

 of Jamaica, and their practice of singing by moonlight, thus gravely philoso- 

 phizes, and attempts to account for the habit. " It is not certain," says he, 

 " whether they are kept so wakeful by the clearness of the light, or by any 

 *' extraordinary attention and vigilance, at such times, for thejprotection of their 

 " nursery from the piratical assaults of the Owl and the night Hawk. It is 

 " possible that fear may operate upon them, much in the same manner as it has 

 " been observed to affect some cowardly persons, who whistle stoutly in a 

 " lonesome place, while their mind is agitated with the terror of thieves or 

 "hobgoblins." Hist, of Jam. v. in, p. 894, quarto. 





