WHITE-BANDED MOCKING-BIRD 11 
sound had an irritating effect on me; but a day or 
two later they had apparently got tired of it them- 
selves, and had resumed their usual varied singing. 
This bird usually sits still upon the summit of 
a bush when singing, and its music is heard in all 
seasons and in all weathers from dawn till after dark : 
as a rule it sings in a leisurely, unexcited manner, 
remaining silent for some time after every five or 
six or a dozen notes, and apparently listening to his 
brother-performers. These snatches of melody often 
seem like a prelude or promise of something better 
coming; there is often in them such exquisite 
sweetness and so much variety that the hearer is 
ever wishing for a fuller measure, and still the bird 
opens his bill to delight and disappoint him, as if 
not yet ready to display his whole power. 
WHITE-BANDED MOCKING-BIRD 
Mimus triurus 
Above grey, brown on the rump; beneath light grey; wing black, 
crossed with a broad white band; tail white, except the two middle 
feathers which are black; bill and feet black; eye orange yellow ; 
length 9.5 inches. 
Azara first met with this king of the Mocking-birds 
in Paraguay a century ago; he named it Calandria 
de las tres colas, and described the plumage accur- 
ately, but was, I think, mistaken about the colour of 
