3GS DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. — CLASS 11. AVES. 



spersoJ with imitation.'!, and all of tlicm uttered with great emplia-sis and 

 rapidity, and continued witii ondiiuini.shed ardor for half an hour or an Iiour 

 at a time. His e.xpanded wings and tail, glistening with white, and the 

 buoyant g.^vety of his action, arresting the eye, as his .song most irresistibly 

 docs the ear, he sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstasy. lie mounts and 

 descends as his song i^wells or dies away ; and, as my friend jNIr. Bartram 

 has beautifully expressed it, ' he bounds aloft with the celerity of an arrow, 

 as if to recover or recall his ^•ery soul, expired in the last elevated strain.'* 

 ^\'liile thus exerting himself", a bystander, destitute of sight, would suppose 

 that the whole feathered tribes had assembled together on a trial of skill, 

 each striving to produce his utmost effect, so perfect are his imitations. He 

 many times deceives the sportsmiui, and .sends him in search of birds that 

 })crhaps are not within miles of him, but whose notes he exactly imitates ; 

 even Ijirds themselves arc frerpiently imposed on by this admirable mimic, 

 and are decoyed by the fancied calls of their mates, or di\'e with prccijiita- 

 tion into the de[)th of thickets at the scream of what they suppose to be the 

 sparrow-hawk. 



"The mocking bird loses little of the power and energy of his song by 

 confinement. In his domesticated state, when he commences his career of 

 song, it is imjiossible to stand by uninterested. lie whistles for the dog ; 

 C'a'sar starts up, wags his tail, and runs to meet his master. lie sipieaks 

 out like a hint, chicken, and the hen hurries abnut, with hanging wings and 

 bristled feathers, clucking to protect its injiu'cd brood. The barking of the 

 dog, the mewing of the cat, the creaking of a passing wheelbarrow, follow 

 with great truth and rapitlity. He repeats the tune taught him by his master, 

 though of considerable length, fully and faithfully. lie runs over the quiv- 

 erings of the canary, and the clear whistlings of the Virginia nightingale 

 or red bird, with such superior execution and effect, that the mortified song- 

 sters feel their own inferiority, and become altogether silent, while he seems 

 to triumph in their defeat by redouliling his exertions. 



"This excessive fondness for variety, however, in the opinion of some, 

 injures his song. Ilis elevated imitations of the brown thrush arc frequently 

 interrupted by the crowing of cocks ; and the warblings of the bluebird, 

 which he exquisitely manages, are mingled with the screaming of swallows 

 or the cackling of hens. Amid.-<t the simple melody of the robin, we are 

 suddenly surprised by the .shrill reiterations of the whippoorwill ; while the 

 notes of the killdeer, blue jay, martin, Baltimore, and twenty others, suc- 

 ceed with such imposing reality, that we look round for the originals, and 

 discover, with astonishment, that the sole performer in this singular concert 



* Travuls, p. 02. IntroJ. 



