MOCKING BIRD. 
321 
at the distant western sources of the Platte, near the very 
base of the Rocky Mountains ; * and Mr. Bullock saw it 
in the table land of Mexico. The Mocking Bird rears 
its young, and consequently displays its wonderful pow- 
ers, in all the intermediate regions of its residence in the 
United States to the peninsula of Florida, t It appears, 
in short, permanently to inhabit the milder regions of the 
western world in either hemisphere and the individuals 
bred north of the Delaware, on this side the equator, are 
all that ever migrate from their summer residence. A 
still more partial migration takes place also, probably, 
from west to east, in quest of the food and shelter which 
the maritime districts afford. Though now so uncommon 
in that vicinity, 50 or 60 years ago, according to Bartram, 
they even wintered near Philadelphia, and made a tem- 
porary abode in the mantling ivy of his venerable mansion. 
In summer, a few proceed as far as Rhode Island, fol- 
lowing the mild temperature of the sea-coast ; but fur- 
ther north, they are, I believe, nearly unknown, except 
rarely and occasionally in Massachusetts. With the ad- 
vance of the season, also, in the country which it inhab- 
its, varies the time of incubation. Early in April they 
begin to build in the maritime parts of Georgia, but not 
before the middle of May in Pennsylvania. 
In the winter season they chiefly subsist on berries, 
particularly those of the Virginia juniper (called red ce- 
dar), wax myrtle, holly, smilax, sumach, sour-gum, and 
a variety of others, which furnish them, and many other 
birds, with a plentiful repast. Insects, worms, grass- 
hoppers, and larvae, are the food on which they princi- 
pally subsist, when so eminently vocal, and engaged in 
* Mr, Say. f Mr. Ware. 
J Mr Litchfield informs me, that the song of the Mocking-Bird is commonly heard 
in Venezuela, where of course it breeds and permanently resides. 
