PIGEON. 625 



counterfeiting the notes of every bird in the woods. Far from 

 ridiculing the songs which he repeats, he seems only to imitate in 

 order to improve them, and to perfect and increase his own powers 

 by exercising them in every possible manner. The mocking-bird 

 not only sings with taste, but with action and vivacity : he accom- 

 panies every note, whether natural or acquired, with corresponding 

 gestures of the body. If the air he warbles be brisk and lively, 

 he beats time by the rapid and fluttering motions of his wings. If 

 his voice, from a loud and full tone, die away by gentle cadences, 

 into a perfect silence, more charming than melody itself, he is 

 skimming, at the same time, above his tree, gradually lessening 

 the undulations of his wings, till at last he seems to rest suspended 

 and motionless on the bosom of the air. 



With all these qualifications that endear him to man, the mock, 

 ing bird is of a very ordinary appearance, compared with the other 

 tenants of the American woods. The upper parts of the body are 

 of a brownish-grey ; and the breast and belly white. Under this 

 plain appearance, which has neither lustre nor variety of colours, 

 he amuses or deceives evefy animal in the forest. 



He seems to sport with the hopes and fears of the small birds ; 

 at one time alluring them by the call of their mates, and then ter- 

 rifying them, after their approach, with the screams of the eagle, 

 or other birds of prey. As there is no bird which it cannot imi- 

 tate, so there is none that it has not at times deceived by its call. 

 It is found in Carolina, Jamaica, New Spain, and, in general, 

 inhabits most of the warm or temperate climates of America. It 

 is fond of the vicinity of man, and is easily domesticated. It 

 perches on the trees around the planter's houses, and sometimes 

 upon the chimney tops, where it remains all night, pouring forth 

 the sweetest and most various notes of any of the feathered tribes. 



[Pantologia, 



SECTION IX. 



Pigeon, 

 Columba. Linn. 



The tame pigeon, and all its beautiful varieties, derive their 

 origin from one species, the stock dove; the English name imply- 

 ing its being the stock or stem from whence the other domestic 

 kinds sprung. These birds, as Varro observes, take their (Latin) 



vol. v. 2 S 



