258 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



sometimes by the vent of Rochemale, and sometimes, and only 

 when rains are abundant and when the vent is not sufficient for 

 its task, by the river Midroi, constituting affluents to the Ardeche 

 of a special order, many examples of which are known in rivers 

 of the type of the Ardeche and the Tarn. Translated for the Pop- 

 ular Science Monthly from La Nature. 



OUR SOUTHERN MOCKER. 



By I. W. BLAKE. 



THE American mocking bird (Mimus polygloltos), although 

 native to a country which claims to be democratic in prin- 

 ciple, is by nature pure and simple a born aristocrat. It is true 

 that at first sight he may be a disappointment to any one antici- 

 pating a bird of brilliant color; but the more one studies the 

 mocker the more strengthened becomes the opinion that few 

 birds, if any, can aspire to his dainty, high-bred personality, or to 

 his slender grace and elegance of movement. Indeed, to this un- 

 conscious, inborn " Delsartean " ease, poise, and lightness, as well 

 as to his marvelous power of imitation, the mocker owes his at- 

 tractiveness ; for this sleek fellow in his sober coat of gray tipped 

 with black, and lightened only by a glimpse of white when he 

 spreads his wings can lay no claim to beauty of feather as an 

 additional charm to win him admiration. The plumage allotted 

 him by Nature serves merely as a background, so to speak, which 

 shall not distract the eye while his listeners pause in wonder as 

 he fills the clear air with his marvelous melody. 



The bird lover at the North, who sees the mocker caged, gloomy 

 and despondent or restlessly beating himself against the merciless 

 bars of his prison, knows nothing of the real power of the bird 

 until he hears him singing at full liberty in the brilliant sunshine 

 of his native heath, for the variations in the song of the mocker 

 depend largely upon his surroundings. Thus, in a city he quickly 

 acquires loud, sharp, and unpleasant notes ; while in the country, 

 where incessant barn-yard music reigns supreme, he soon adapts 

 himself to his position. Take him, however, free, happy, saucy 

 fellow that he is in the South, in localities where he hears few 

 sounds but the voices of clear-throated birds, and his song is natu- 

 rally mellow and sweet, standing unsurpassed in its wonderful 

 modulations and gradations, compass, and brilliancy of execution. 

 The mocker seems instinctively to select the prettiest quirks and 

 quavers he can gather from his neighbors. Many of the sweetest 

 notes in his repertoire he acquires from the red or cardinal bird, 

 which has certain liquid, flutelike whistles, all of which our little 



