THE MOCKING BIED. 
305 
0r I have always been an admirer of these elegant 
features, their notes, their nests, their eggs, and all 
economy of their lives ; nor have we throughout 
N'e orders of creation any beings that so continually 
! !,1 gage our attention as these our feathered companions, 
winter takes from us all the gay world of the meads, 
' le sylphs that hover over our flowers, that steal our 
^"fets, that creep, or gently wing their way in glittering 
Jpleudour around us ; and of all the miraculous creatures 
sported their hour in the sunny beam, the winter 
s'Wat ( tipula Memalis ) alone remains to frolic in some 
j! ar e and partial gleam. The myriads of the pool are 
., (| rtnant, or hidden from onr sight ; the quadrupeds, 
and wary, veil their actions in the glooms of 
''ight, and we see little of them; hut birds are with us 
-Ways, they give a character to spring, and are identi- 
I °d with it; they enchant and amuse us all summer 
•»tig w ;th their sports, animation, hilarity, and glee ; 
'ey cluster round ns, suppliant in the winter of our 
'’'Hr, and, unrepiuing through cold and want, seek 
’'■air scanty meal amidst the refuse of the barn, the 
■bills of the cattle, or at the doors of our house ; or, 
'tting hungry from one denuded and bare spray to 
'"Wither, excite onr pity and regard. Their lives are 
Sterns of gaiety, cleanliness, alacrity, and joy.” 
23. TUBSUS rOLYGLOTTVS, LINN iEL’S. — THE MOCKING-BIRD. 
AUDUBON, PLATE XXII. 
Audubon says, “ It is where the great magnolia shoots 
its majestic trunk, crowned with evergreen leaves, 
r,| l decorated with a thousand beautiful flowers, that 
("‘ffutne the air around ; where the forests and fields 
^ adorned with blossoms of every hue ; where the 
s^deu orange ornaments the gardens and groves ; 
'‘‘here bin-noiiias of various kinds interlace their climbing 
Ste ms around the white-flowered stuartia, and mounting 
■bll higher, cover the summits of the lofty trees around, 
^conipanied with innumerable vines, that here and 
festoon the dense foliage of the magnificent woods, 
V °L. IV. u 
