CHAPTER XXIV. 



GLEANINGS. 



HAVING studied our birds in the order of the seasons, 

 and grouped them about certain localities, there remain 

 some which do not come readily into any of the previous 

 chapters. They are but few, and most of them are mere 

 outlying species of the field which I have chosen; and as I 

 wish to make this book a complete manual, within the reach 

 of every one, its necessary limits will restrict the account of 

 those which follow to great brevity. 



Taking them in the order of their classification, we come 

 first to the famous Mockingbird (Mimus pollyglottus) of the 

 Southern States. Some 9.50 long, gray above, white below, 

 with breast and sides tinged with gray; wings and tail, dark- 

 brown, the former with bars and base of primaries, also the 

 tips and edgings of the wing feathers generally, white; the 

 latter with an outer feather on each side, and a mark on the 

 two following, white. The male has more white in the 

 primaries than the female. The marvelous capacity of this 

 species for imitation is truly a wonder in bird-life. Giving 

 the notes and songs of the Sparrow, the Goldfinch, the Blue 

 Jay and the Robin, in the same breath, it imitates almost 

 any sound within hearing, even voicing fairly the notes of 

 a piano. Indeed, it will so render the songs of other birds 

 as positively to excel them in musical power and sweetness, 

 so that the performance of the birds themselves will sound 



