150 NATURAL HISTORY. 
CHAPTER XV. 
PERCHING BIRDS—continued. 
I now go on to consider the remaining families of the 
Dentirostral group of the Perchers. 
248. The Thrushes form a very numerous and diversi- 
fied family. They are almost universally distributed, ap- 
pearing in nearly every variety of climate. Besides the 
insects on which they live in common with the Warblers, 
they eat, also, snails, earthworms, and various berries. 
They are generally larger than the Warblers. Many of 
them are celebrated songsters. The American Mocking- 
bird is one of the most prominent. This bird is very 
abundant in the warmer portions of the United States, 
and is found also in the northern portions of South 
America; it is sometimes found as far north as Rhode 
Island, but not far inland. Like the Nightingale of Eu- 
rope, it has a dull plumage, but it is graceful in form, 
and with its animated, active air while singing, has then 
considerable beauty. Its natural notes are very fine, 
and it has powers of imitation surpassing in variety every 
other bird. It seems to take special delight in abrupt 
transitions among sounds that are totally unlike, passing, 
for example, from the creaking of a wheelbarrow, or the 
sound of a saw, to the sweet song of a Canary. 
249. To this family belongs the American Robin. This 
bird is very widely diffused in this country, being found 
in Oregon, and even at Nootka Sound. It is a very fa- 
miliar bird, and a favorite one, partly because it comes 
so early in the spring, and is so late in emigrating south, 
and partly from its having the same name with the Eu- 
ropean Redbreast, in whose praise there has always so 
much been said, both in prose and poetry. The two 
