292 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description. 



CHAP. XII. 



" Hnsh'd into peaceful rest the negroes sleep, 

 And not a distant sound their dwelling shocks, 



Save where the horrors of the foaming deep 



Daeh mountain billows 'gainst the craggy rocks : 



Or where the mack bird from the willow's height, 

 Whose pliant boughs wave ceaseless to and fro, 



In solemn sadness, all the live-long night, 

 Tunes to the grove his plaintive tale of woe." 



ANON, 



THE MOCK BIRD. 



THOUGH this bird cannot vie with the fea- 

 thered inhabitants of irs native forests in bril- 

 liancy of plumage, yet it possesses more rare and 

 estimable qualities. It is about the size of a 

 blackbird, but somewhat more slender, and in 

 figure very much resembles the thrush. The 

 upper part of the body is of a brown grey, more 

 or less dark ; the wings and tail have more brown, 

 but the former have a white patch that crosses 

 them obliquely, and the tail is bordered with the 

 same colour. All the under part of the body is 

 white from the throat to the end of the taiJ. 



