MOCKING BIRD. jy, 



with whom everything 'French was inferior to everything 

 English* 



The mocking bird is frequently taken in trap-cages, and, by 

 proper management, may be made sufficiently tame to sing. 

 The upper parts of the cage (which ought to be of wood) 

 should be kept covered, until the bird becomes a little more 

 reconciled to confinement. If placed in a wire cage, uncovered, 

 he will soon destroy himself in attempting to get out. These 

 birds, however, by proper treatment, may be brought to sing 

 perhaps superior to those raised by hand, and cost less trouble. 

 The opinion which the naturalists of Europe entertain of the 

 great difficulty of raising the mocking bird, and that not one 

 in ten survives, is very incorrect. A person called on me a 

 few days ago with twenty-nine of these birds, old and 3 7 oung, 

 which he had carried about the fields with him for several 

 days, for the convenience of feeding them while engaged in 

 trapping others. He had carried them thirty miles, and 

 intended carrying them ninety-six miles farther, viz., to 

 New York ; and told me, that he did not expect to lose one 

 out of ten of them. Cleanliness, and regularity in feeding, 

 are the two principal things to be attended to ; and these 

 rarely fail to succeed. 



The eagerness with which the nest of the mocking bird is 

 sought after in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, has rendered 

 this bird extremely scarce for an extent of several miles round 

 the city. In the country round Wilmington and Newcastle, 

 they are very numerous, from whence they are frequently 

 brought here for sale. The usual price of a singing bird is from 

 seven to fifteen, and even twenty dollars. I have known fifty 

 dollars paid for a remarkably fine singer, and one instance 

 where one hundred dollars were refused for a still more ex- 

 traordinary one. 



* The observations of Mr Barrington, in the paper above referred to, 

 make this supposition still more probable. " Some nightingales," says 

 he, " are so vastly inferior, that the bird-catchers will not keep them, 

 branding them with the name of Frenchmen." — P. 283. 



