98 
MOCKESTG-BIRD. 
by the same person, until the scholar, who is seldom inat- 
tentive, has completely acquired his lesson. The best singing 
birds, however, in my own opinion, are those that have been 
reared in the country, and educated under the tuition of the 
feathered choristers of the surrounding fields, groves, woods, and 
meadows. 
The plumage of the Mocking-bird, though none of the home- 
liest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it, and, had he nothing 
else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice, 
but his figure is well proportioned, and even handsome. The 
ease, elegance and rapidity of his movements, the animation of 
his eye, and the intelligence he displays in listening and laying 
up lessons from almost every species of the feathered creation 
within his hearing, are really surprising, and mark the peculiari- 
ty of his genius. To these qualities we may add thatof a voice full, 
strong, and musical, and capable of almost every modulation, 
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 preeminent over every compe- 
titor. The ear can listen to his music alone, to which that of all 
the others seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this strain 
altogether 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 seemingly 
beyond all limits. They consist of short expressions of two, 
three, or at the most five or six syllables; generally inter- 
spersed with imitations, and all of them uttered with great 
emphasis and rapidity; and continued, with undiminished ar- 
dour, for half an hour, or an hour at a time. His 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 ecstasy — he mounts 
