THE MOCKING-BIRD. 41 



fruits and seeds which she has produced in abun- 

 dance for her aerial tribes. When his repast is 

 over, he returns to man, and pays the little tri- 

 bute which he owes him for his protection: he 

 takes his station close to his house, and there, 

 for hours together, pours forth a succession of 

 imitative notes. His own song is sweet, but 

 very short. If a toucan be yelping in the neigh- 

 bourhood, he drops it, and imitates him. Then 

 he will amuse his protector with the cries of the 

 different species of the woodpecker ; and when the 

 sheep bleat, he will distinctly answer them. Then 

 comes his own song again, and if a puppy-dog, 

 or a guinea-fowl, interrupt him, he takes them 

 off admirably, and by his different gestures dur- 

 ing the time, you would conclude that he enjoys 

 the sport. The cassique is gregarious, and imi- 

 tates any sound he hears with such exactness, 

 that he goes by no other name than that of 

 mocking-bird amongst the colonists. At breed- 

 ing time, a number of these pretty choristers 

 resort to a tree near the planter's house, and 

 from its outside branches weave their pendulous 

 nests. So conscious do they seem that they 

 never give offence, and so little suspicious are 

 they of receiving any injury from man, that they 

 will choose a tree within forty yards from his 

 house, and occupy the branches so low down, 



