MOCKING BIRD. 
191 
spiring animation, and, as it were, moving in time to the melody 
of his own accents. Even the hours of night, which consign 
nearly all other birds to rest and silence, like the Nightingale 
he oft employs in song, serenading the houseless hunter and 
silent cottager to repose, as the rising moon illumines the 
darkness of the shadowy scene. His capricious fondness for 
contrast and perpetual variety appears to deteriorate his pow- 
ers. His imitations of the Brown dhrush are perhaps inter- 
rupted by the crowing of the cock or the barking of the dog ; 
the plaintive warblings of the Bluebird are then blended with 
the chatter of the Swallow or the cackling of the hen ; amid 
the simple lay of the native Robin we are surprised v\dth the 
vociferations of the Whip-poor-will ; while the notes of the 
garrulous Jay, Wren, and many others succeed with such an 
appearance of reality that we almost imagine ourselves in the 
presence of the originals, and can scarcely realize the feet that 
the whole of this singular concert is the effort of a single 
bird. Indeed, it is impossible to listen to these Orphean 
strains, when delivered by a superior songster in his native 
woods, without being deeply affected and almost riveted to 
the spot by the complicated feelings of wonder and delight 
in which, from the graceful and sympathetic action, as well as 
enchanting voice of the performer, the eye is no less gratified 
than the ear. It is, however, painful to reflect that these ex- 
traordinary powers of nature, exercised with so much generous 
freedom in a state of confinement, are not calculated for long 
endurance, and after this most wonderful and interesting pris- 
oner has survived for 6 or 7 years, blindness often terminates 
his gay career; and thus shut out from the cheering light, the 
solace of his lonely but active existence, he now after a time 
droops in silent sadness and dies. 
The Mocking Bird is a rare but regular summer visitor to Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, and southern Massachusetts, and examples 
have been taken in Maine. Mr. Mcllwraith reports that a pair 
spent the summer of 1883 near Hamilton, Ontario, and C. A. 
McLennan records in the O. & O. the capture of one near Truro, 
N. S, The species is chiefly restricted to the Southern States. 
