MOCKING BIRD. tfy 



primaries also extends equally far on both vanes of the 

 feathers. In the female the white is less pure, spreads over 

 only seven or eight of the primaries, does not descend so far, 

 and extends considerably farther down on the broad than on 

 the narrow side of the feathers. The black is also more of 

 a brownish cast. 



The young birds, if intended for the cage, ought not to be 

 left till they are nearly ready to fly, but should be taken 

 rather young than otherwise ; and may be fed, every half 

 hour, with milk thickened with Indian-meal ; mixing occa- 

 sionally with it a little fresh meat, cut or minced very fine. 

 After they begin to eat of their own accord, they ought still 

 to be fed by hand, though at longer intervals, and a few 

 cherries, strawberries, &c, now and then thrown into them. 

 The same sort of food, adding grasshoppers and fruit, par- 

 ticularly the various kinds of berries in which they delight, 

 and plenty of clear fine gravel, is found very proper for them 

 after they are grown up. Should the bird at any time 

 appear sick or dejected, a few spiders thrown into him will 

 generally remove these symptoms of disease. 



If the young bird is designed to be taught by an old one, 

 the best singer should be selected for this office, and no other 

 allowed to be beside him. Or if by the bird-organ or 

 mouth-whistling, it should be begun early, and continued, 

 pretty constantly, by the same person, until the scholar, who 

 is seldom inattentive, has completely acquired his lesson. 

 The best singing birds, however, in my own opinion, are 

 those that have been reared in the country, and educated 

 under the tuition of the feathered choristers of the surround- 

 ing fields, groves, woods, and meadows. 



The plumage of the mocking bird, though none of the 

 homeliest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it ; and had he 

 nothing else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him 

 to notice ; but his figure is well proportioned, and even hand- 

 some. The ease, elegance, and rapidity of his movements, 

 the animation of his eye, and the intelligence he displays in 



