MOCKING-BIRD, 103 



ing in the prejudices of our forefathers; with whom every thing 

 French was inferior to every thing English* 



The Mocking-bird is frequently taken in trap-cages, and by 

 proper management may be made sufficiently tame to sing. 

 The upper parts of the cage (which ought to be of wood) should 

 be kept covered, until the bird becomes a little more recon- 

 ciled to confinement. If placed in a wire cage, uncovered, he 

 will soon destroy himself in attempting to get out. These birds, 

 however, by proper treatment may be brought to sing perhaps 

 superior to those raised by hand, and cost less trouble* The 

 opinion which the naturalists of Europe entertain of the great 

 difficulty of raising the Mocking-bird, and, that not one in ten 

 survives, is very incorrect. A person called on me a few days 

 ago, with twenty-nine of these birds, old and young, which he 

 had carried about the fields with him for several days, for the 

 convenience of feeding them while engaged in trapping others. 

 He had carried them thirty miles, and intended carrying them 

 ninety-six miles farther, viz. to New York; and told me, that he 

 did not expect to lose one out of ten of them. Cleanliness, and 

 regularity in feeding, are the two principal things to be attended 

 to, and these rarely fail to succeed. 



The eagerness with which the nest of the Mocking-bird is 

 sought after in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, has rendered 

 this bird extremely scarce for an extent of several miles around 

 the city. In the country round Wilmington and Newcastle, they 

 are very numerous, from whence they are frequently brought 

 here for sale. The usual price of a singing bird is from seven to 

 fifteen, and even twenty dollars. I have known fifty dollars paid 

 for a remarkable fine singer; and one instance where one hun- 

 dred dollars were refused for a still more extraordinary one. 



Attempts have been made to induce these charming birds to 

 pair, and rear their young in a state of confinement, and the result 



* The observations of Mr. Harrington, in the paper above referred to, make 

 this supposition still more probable. " Some Nightingales," says he, " are so 

 vastly inferior, that the bird-catchers will not keep them, branding them with 

 the name of Frenchmen." p. 283. 



