L98 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



barrow, follow, with great truth and rapidity. He repeats 

 the tune taught him by his master, though of considerable 

 length, fully and faithfully. He runs over the quiverings 

 of the canary, and the clear whistlings of the Virginia 

 nightingale, or redbird, with such superior execution and 

 effect that the mortified songsters feel their own inferi- 

 ority, and become altogether silent, while he seems to tri- 

 umph in their defeat by redoubling his exertions. 



8. This excessive fondness for variety, however, in the 

 opinion of some, injures his song. His elevated imitations 

 of the brown thrush are frequently interrupted by the crow- 

 ing of cocks ; and the warblings of the bluebird, which he 

 exquisitely manages, are mingled with the screaming of 

 swallows or the cackling of hens ; amid the simple melody 

 of l,he robin we are suddenly surprised by the shrill reitera- 

 tions of the whip-poor-will ; while the notes of the kildeer, 

 blue jay, martin, baltimore, and twenty others, succeed, 

 with such imposing reality, that we look round for the 

 originals, and discover, with astonishment, that the sole 

 performer in this singular concert is the admirable bird 

 now before us. During this exhibition of his powers he 

 spreads his wings, expands his tail, and throws himself 

 around the cage in all the ecstasy of enthusiasm, seeming 

 not only to sing, but to dance, keeping time to the meas- 

 ure of his own music. Both in his native and domesti- 

 cated state, during the solemn stillness of night, as soon 

 as the moon rises in silent majesty, he begins his delight- 

 ful solo, and .serenades us the livelong night with a full 

 display of his vocal powers, making the neighborhood ring 

 with his iuimitable medley. 



Alexander Wihon. 



