MOCKING BIRD. 
173 
than a part, all that is excellent or delightful, amusing or 
striking, in the music of birds, must belong to that admirable 
songster, whose vocal powers are equal to the whole compass 
of their whole strains. 
The native notes of the Mocking Bird have a considerable 
resemblance to those of the Brown Thrush, but may easily 
be distinguished, by their greater rapidity, sweetness, energy 
of expression, and variety. Both, however, have, in many 
parts of the United States, particularly in those to the south, 
obtained the name of Mocking Bird; the first, or Brown 
Thrush, from its inferiority of song, being called the French, 
and the other the English Mocking Bird, — a mode of expres- 
sion probably originating in the prejudices of our forefathers, 
with whom every thing French was inferior to every thing 
English.* 
The Mocking Bird is frequently taken in trap-cages, and, 
by proper management, may be made sufficiently tame to 
sing. The upper parts of the cage (which ought to be of 
wood) should be kept covered, until the bird becomes a little 
more reconciled to confinement. If placed in a wire cage, 
uncovered, he will soon destroy himself in attempting to get 
out. These birds, however, by proper treatment, may be 
brought to sing perhaps superior to those raised by hand, and 
cost less trouble. The opinion which the naturalists of Europe 
entertain of the great difficulty of raising the Mocking Bird, 
and that not one in ten survives, is very incorrect. A person 
called on me a few days ago, with twenty-nine of these birds, 
old and young, which he had carried about the fields with 
him for several days, for the convenience of feeding them 
while engaged in trapping others. He had carried them 
thirty miles, and intended carrying them ninety-six miles 
farther, viz. to New York; and told me, that he did not 
* The observations of Mr Barrington, in the paper above referred to, make 
this supposition still more probable. “ Some Nightingales,” says he, “ are so 
vastly inferior, that the bird-catchers will not keep them, branding them with 
the name of Frenchmen.” P. 283. 
