40 THE MOCKING-BIRD. 



ORDER PASSERES. 



Mocking Bird. Mocking Thrush. 

 Turdus polyglottus. 



THIS amusing inhabitant of the American woods 

 is called, by the Mexicans, " the bird of four 

 hundred languages." It derives its name from 

 the talent it possesses of imitating the songs of 

 other birds. Its own natural song is sweet and 

 varied, but to this it adds the notes of almost all 

 the other birds it hears in the extensive forests 

 and savannahs of America. Its imitations do 

 not merit the name of mocking, since it does not 

 caricature the songs of other birds, but copies 

 them with much skill and taste, throwing in 

 notes of his own at intervals, and giving to the 

 borrowed strain added grace and harmony. 



Waterton, who had many opportunities of 

 observing this bird in its native haunts, thus de- 

 scribes it: " The cassique, or mocking-bird, is 

 larger than the starling. He courts the society 

 of man, but disdains to live by his labours. 

 When nature calls for support, he repairs to the 

 neighbouring forest, and there partakes of the 



