96 



xNORTH AMERICA. 



and when the busiiess is completed, he returns to his nest, mounts the summit of the bush, and pours 

 out a torrent of song in token of victory. 



The plumage of the mocking bird has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it; but that which so strongly 

 recommends him is his full, strong, and musical voice, capable of almost every modulation, from the 

 mellow tones of the wood thrush, to the savage screams of the bald eagle. In his native groves, 

 mounted on the top of a tall bush, in the dawn of a dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal 

 with a multitude of warblers, his admirable song rises preeminent over every competitor. Thenar 

 can listen to his music alone. Nor is the strain altogether imitative. His own native notes are bold 

 and full, and varied seemingly beyond all limits. They consist of short expressions of two, three, or 

 five and six syllables, generally interspersed with imitations, all of them uttered with great emphasis 

 and rapidity ; and continued for an hour at a time with undiminished ardor. Piis expanded wings 

 and tail glistening with white, and the buoyant gayety of his action arresting the eye, as his song 

 most irresistibly does the ear. He sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstacy ; he mounts and descends 

 as his song swells or dies away ; and as Mr. Bartram has beautifully expressed it, " he bounds aloft 

 with the celerity of an arrow, as if to recover or recall his very soul, expired in the last elevated 

 strain." While thus e:.erting himself, a bystander would suppose that the whole feathered tribe had 

 assembled together on a trial for skill, so perfect are his imitations. 



Mr. Audubon furnislies us with the following comparison between the mocking bird and the 

 nightingale. " The musical powers of this bird have often been taken notice of by European 

 naturalists, and persons who tind pleasure in listening to the songs of different birds, whilst in con- 

 finement or at large. Some of these persons have described the notes of the nightingale as occa- 

 sionally fully equal to those of our bird. I liave frequently heard both species in confinement and in 

 a wild state, and without prejudice, have no hesitation in saying, that to compare her essays to the 

 finished talent of the mocking bird, is, in my opinion, quite absurd." 



The mocking bird loses little of the power and energy of his song by confinement. In his domes- 

 ticated state, when he connnences his career of song, it is impossible to stand by uninterested. His 

 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 crowing of cocks ; and fiie warblings 

 of the blue bird, which he exquisitely manages, are mingled with the screaming of swallows or the 

 cackling of hens ; amidst the simple melody of the robin, we are suddenly surprised by the 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 before us. Both 

 in his native and domesticated state, during the solemn stillness of night, as soon as the moon rises 

 in silent majesty, he begins his delightful solo, and serenades us the live-long night with a full display 

 of his vocal powers, making the whole neighborhood ring with his inimitable melody. The mocking 

 bird is nine and a half inches long. The upper parts of the head, neck, and back, are a dark 

 brownish ash; the under parts are of a brownish white. His figure is well proportioned, and even 

 handsome. 



The Ferruginous Thrush (T. rufus) the brown thrush or thrasher of the Middle and 



Eastern States, and the French mocking bird of Ma- 

 ryland, Virginia, and the CaroHnas. It is the largest 

 of all our thrushes, and is a well known and distinguish- 

 ed songster. From the tops of apple or cherry trees- 

 he salutes the opening morning v> ith a charming song, 

 which is loud, emphatical, and full of varietj^ These 

 notes are not imitative, but solely his own. At that 

 serene hour you may plainly distinguish his voice for 

 half a mile's distance. He builds his nest in a thorn 

 bush, low cedar, thicket of briers, or in a cluster of 

 vines. It is constructed of small sticks, dry leaves, and 

 fibrous roots. He often attacks the black snake, in de- 

 fence of his young, and with success, as his bill is 

 strong and powerful. He is an active and vigorous 

 bird, flying generally low from one thicket to another, 

 with his broad tail spread out like a fan ; he has a single 

 note or chuck when you approach his nest. He is 

 easily reared, and becomes familiar in confinement. 



The Robin ( T. migratorius) is known universally, 

 and is deservedly a great favorite. It is found in im- 

 Tke Ferruginous Thrush. mense numbers in the Atlantic Ptates, from New 



