THE MOCKING-BIUD. 
113 
His musical powers are not limited to those of imitation^ 
for the mocking-bird^ Wilson tells us^ has ^^a voice fuU^ 
strong, and musical^ and capable of almost every modu- 
lation, from the clear mellow tones of the wood-thrush 
to the savage scream of the bald-eagle. In measure and 
accent he faithfully follows his originals. In force and 
sweetness of expression he greatly improves upon them. In 
his native groves, mounted on the top of a tall bush or half- 
grown tree, in the dawn of dewy morning, while the woods 
are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, his admirable 
song rises pre-eminent over every competitor. The ear can 
listen to his music alone, to which that of all the others 
seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this strain alto- 
gether imitative. His own native notes, which are easily 
distinguishable by such as are well acquainted with those of 
our various song-birds, are bold and full, and varied seem- 
ingly beyond all limits. They consist of short expressions 
of two, three, or at the most five or six syllables, generally 
interspersed with imitations, and all of them uttered with 
great emphasis and rapidity, and continued with undimi- 
nished ardour for half an hour or an hour at a time. His 
expanded wings and tail glistening with white, and the 
buoyant gaiety of his action, arresting the eye, as his song 
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