120 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



wanting in enthusiasm, never warbling as if in ecstasy, 

 like the bobolink, the gi-ass-finch, and the canary bird. 

 The imitative powers of the mocking-bird are chiefly 

 confined to the imitation of separate sounds. He will 

 imitate the crying of a chicken, the mewing of a cat, 

 the whistling of a quail, and the single strains of many 

 other birds. But he is never heard to give a perfect 

 imitation of the continued song of any bird whose notes 

 are difficult of execution. This the bobolink, when 

 caged, and several other birds, will do to perfection. 



The following Table of the comparative merits of the 

 British singing birds, was prepared by Hon. Daines 

 Barrington. The Table of the American singing birds, 

 I have prepared after the manner of Mr. Barrington's 

 table, but do not design it as affording any criterion by 

 which the British birds may be compared with those of 

 our own country. If these two tables be generally cor- 

 rect, it will be seen that the thrushes which take the 

 first rank among American singing birds, take only 

 about a third rank among those of Great Britain. 

 Two of the most celebrated warblers among the latter, 

 — the nightingale and the blackcap, — are Sylvias, 

 while there is not one species of this tribe in New 

 England that is remarkable for its powers of song. 

 The birds that make the greater part of the melody 

 that pervades our woods and fields in New England, 

 and which would be the most sadly missed, if their 

 species were to become extinct, are the common robin, 

 the grass-finch, the wood-thrush, and the song-spar- 

 row. 



