112 MOCKING BIRD. 
something might be laid to the score of partiality, which, as a faithful 
biographer, Iam anxious to avoid. I shall, therefore, present the 
reader with the opinion of a distinguished English naturalist and 
curious observer, on this subject, the Honorable Daines Barrington, 
who, at the time he made the communication, was vice-president of 
the Royal Society, to which it was addressed.* ’ 
“It may not be improper here,” says this gentleman, “to consider 
whether the Nightingale may not have a very formidable competitor 
in the American Mocking Bird, though almost all travellers agree, 
that the concert in the European woods is superior to that of the other 
parts of the globe.” “I have happened, however, to hear the Ameri- 
can Mocking Bird, in great perfection, at Messrs. Vogels and Scotts, 
in Love Lane, Eastcheap. This bird is believed to be still living, and 
hath been in England these six years. During the space of a minute, 
he imitated the Woodlark, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Thrush, and Sparrow} 
I was told also that he would bark like a dog; so that the bird seems” 
to have no choice in his imitations, though his pipe comes nearest to 
our Nightingale of any bird I have yet met with. With regard to the 
original notes, however, of this bird, we are still at a loss, as this can 
only be known by those who are accurately acquainted with the song 
of the other American birds. Kalm indeed informs us, that the 
natural song is excellent;+ but this traveller seems not to have been 
long enough in America to have distinguished what were the genuine 
notes: with us, mimics do not often succeed but in imitations. [I have 
little doubt, however, but that this bird would be fully equal to’ the 
song of the Nightingale in its whole compass; but then, from the 
attention which the Mocker pays to any other sort of disagreeable 
noise, these capital notes would be always debased by a bad mix- 
ture.” : 
On this extract I shall make a few remarks. If, as is here con- 
‘ceded, the Mocking Bird be fully equal to the song of the Nightin- 
gale, and, as I can with confidence add, not only. to that, but to the 
song of almost every other bird, besides being capable of exactly 
imitating various other sounds and voices of animals,— his vocal 
powers are unquestionably superior to those of the Nightingale, which 
possesses its own native notes alone. Further, if we consider, as is 
asserted by Mr. Barrington, that “one reason of the Nightingale’s 
being more attended to than others is, that it sings in the night;” and 
if we believe, with Shakspeare, that : 
The Nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
When every Goose is cackling, would be thought 
No better a musician than a Wren, 
what must we think of that bird, who, in the glare of day, when a 
multitude of songsters are straining their throats in melody, over- 
powers all competition, and, by the superiority of his voice, expression, 
and action, not only attracts every ear, but frequently strikes dumb 
his mortified rivals; when the silence of night, as well as the bustle of 
day, bear witness to his melody; and when, even in captivity, in a 
* Philosophical Transactions, vol. xii. part ii. p. 284. 
t Travels, vol. i. p. 219. 
