572 



Insessores. 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



He hails, and there, with parting light, concludes 

 * His melody. There, when the buds begin 

 To break, he lays the fibrous roots, and see 

 His jetty breast embrowned; the rounded clay 

 His jetty breast has soiled : but now complete, 

 His partner and his helper in the work, 

 Happy assumes possession of her home : 

 While he upon a neighbouring tree his lay, 

 More richly full, melodiously renews. 



-...The thrush's song 



Is varied as his plumes ; and as his plumes 



Blend beauteous, each with each, so run his notes, 



Smoothly, with many a happy rise and fall. 



Sometimes below the never-fading leaves 



Of ivy close, that overtwisting binds 



Some riven rock, or nodding castle wall, 



Securely there the dam sits all day long ; 



"While from the adverse bank, on topmost shoot 



Of odour-breathing birch, her mate's blythe chaunt 



Cheers her pent hours, and makes the wild woods ring. 1 



The missel-thrush is the largest and strongest of the 

 genus, at least in Europe. He is a bold, pugnacious bird, 

 guarding his nest with great success from the intrusive 

 magpie. His song is loud and clear, but monotonous ; 

 something like an ineffectual attempt to combine the tones 

 of the thrush and blackbird. Yet Colonel Montagu ad- 

 mired, it greatly. The ring-ouzel affects mountainous and 

 barren places. The field-fare and red-wing are only seen 

 with us in winter, and are known to breed in the more 

 northern parts of Europe. The former sings well, and we 

 have somewhere seen it called the nightingale of Norway. 



One of the most noted of the foreign species of the ge- 

 nus is the mocking-bird of America, T. polyglottus, Linn. 

 It measures about nine inches in length, is cinereous above, 

 whitish below, with the tips of the wing-coverts, the base 

 of the primaries, and the lateral tail-feathers white. This 

 unrivalled Orpheus and great natural wonder of the Ame- 

 rican forests inhabits the whole northern continent from 

 the state of Rhode Island to the larger islands of the West 

 Indies, and, continuing through the equatorial regions, is 

 found as far south as Brazil. Neither is it confined to the 

 eastern or Atlantic states, being known to exist in the 

 wild territory of the Arkansa, more than a thousand miles 

 from the mouth of Red River. It breeds around the far 

 western sources of the Platte, near the very base of the 

 Rocky Mountains ; and Mr Bullock observed it on the 

 table-land of Mexico. The mocking-bird may be regard- 

 ed as a permanent (we mean stationary) inhabitant of the 

 milder regions of the western world, though such as are 

 bred to the north of the Delaware seem to move south- 

 wards before the approach of winter. 2 The period of in- 

 cubation varies with the latitude. A solitary thorn, an 

 almost impenetrable thicket, an orange tree, cedar, or 

 holly bush, are favourite places ; and during this important 

 period neither man nor beast can approach without being 

 attacked. Cats are especially persecuted ; yet his chief 

 and most vengeful rage is directed against the black snake, 

 a mortal enemy. The male bird darts upon the insidious 

 reptile with the greatest courage, and by violent and in- 

 cessant blows upon the head, sometimes deprives him of 

 life. The boasted fascination of his race, his lurid eye, 

 his sharp envenomed fangs, avail not when competing 

 with the love of offspring, that pure and beautiful affec- 

 tion, the least selfish of all instinctive feelings. " The 

 plumage of the mocking-bird," says the first great histo- 

 rian of the American feathered tribes, " though none of 

 the homeliest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it ; and 

 had he nothing else to recommend him, would scarcely 

 entitle him to notice ; but his figure is well proportioned, 

 and even handsome. The ease, elegance, and rapidity of 



his movements, the animation of his eye, and the intelli- Insessores. 

 gence he displays in listening and laying up lessons, from ^— ~v— -^ 

 almost every species of the feathered creation within his 

 hearing, are really surprising, and mark the peculiarity of 

 his genius. To these qualities we may add that of a voice 

 full, strong, and musical, and capable of almost every mo- 

 dulation, from the clear mellow tones of the wood-thrush 

 to thfi savage scream of the bald eagle. In measure and 

 accent he faithfully follows his originals. In force and 

 sweetness of expression he greatly improves upon them. 

 In his native groves, mounted on the top of a tall bush or 

 half-grown tree, in the dawn of dewy morning, while the 

 woods are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, his 

 admirable song rises pre-eminent over every competitor. 

 The ear can listen to his music alone, to which that of all 

 the others seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this 

 strain altogether imitative. His own native notes, which 

 are easily distinguishable by such as are well acquainted 

 with those of our various song birds, are bold and full, and 

 varied seemingly beyond all limits. While thus exerting 

 himself, a bystander, destitute of sight, would suppose that 

 the whole feathered tribes had assembled together on a 

 trial of skill, each trying to produce his utmost efforts, so 

 perfect are his imitations. He many times deceives the 

 sportsman, and sends him in search of birds that perhaps 

 are not within miles of him, but whose notes he exactly 

 imitates ; even birds themselves are frequently imposed on 

 by this admirable mimic, and are decoyed by the fancied 

 calls of their mates, or dive with precipitation into the 

 depth of thickets, at the scream of what they suppose to 

 be the sparrowhawk.'' 3 



The mocking-bird sometimes breeds in captivity. Many 

 years ago a Mr Klein, of Philadelphia, partitioned off a 

 space of twelve feet square within doors, lighted by a pret- 

 ty large wire-grated window. In the centre he placed a 

 cedar-busb, five or six feet high, in a box of earth, and 

 scattered about a sufficient quantity of materials suitable 

 for building. A male and female mocking-bird were in- 

 troduced, and soon began to build. When the nest was 

 completed the female laid five eggs, all of which she hatch- 

 ed, and she fed the young with great affection till they 

 were nearly able to fly. Business, unfortunately, called 

 the proprietor from home for a fortnight, and the care of 

 the colony being left to the domestics, the result may be 

 anticipated. On his return the young were utterly dead, 

 and the parents nearly famished. 



Several African species allied to our present group 

 dwell together like starlings, in numerous chattering flocks, 

 pursuing insects, and committing great depredations in 

 gardens. Several are remarkable for the lustrous splen- 

 dour of their plumage. Such are Turdus auratus and 

 nitens of Gmelin. The Senegal species, called the glossy 

 thrush, T. teneus, is characterized by the magnificent 

 length of its caudal plumes. These richly attired species 

 belong to thegenusLAMPROTORNis, Temm. Other species, 

 in which the bill is slender and lengthened (as in the Bra- 

 zilian thrush of Lath.), form the genus Ixos of the last- 

 named author ; while the genus Enicurus (more nearly 

 related, however, to the fly-catchers) consists of one or 

 two species with a stronger bill, the tail long and forked. 

 Such isE. coronalus, Temm. PL Col. 113; and E. velatus, 

 ibid. 160, from Java. Grallina of Vieillot is constitut- 

 ed by a New Holland species with a straight, lengthened, 

 rather rounded bill, and long legs. The plumage is black 

 and white. Ex. G. melanoleuca, Vieil. The genus Tri- 

 chophorus, Temm. is composed of species of which the 

 bill is very strong, and garnished at the base with long, 

 projecting bristles, which sometimes prevail also on the 



Grahame's Birdi of Scotland. 



Nuttall's American Ornithology, i. 321. 3 Wilson's American Ornithology, ii. 92. 



