MOCKING BIRD. 
327 
lonely but active exsitence, he now, after a time, droops 
in silent sadness and dies. 
Successful attempts have been made to breed this bird 
in confinement by allowing them retirement and a suffi- 
ciency of room. Those which have been taken in trap- 
cages are accounted the best singers, as they come from 
the school of nature, and are taught their own wild 
wood notes. The prices of these invaluable songsters 
are as variable as their acquired or peculiar powers, and 
are from 5 to 50 dollars ; even a hundred has been re- 
fused for an extraordinary individual. The food of the 
young is thickened meal and water, or meal and milk, 
mixed occasionally with tender fresh meat, minced fine. 
Animal food, almost alone, finely divided and soaked 
in milk, is at first the only nutritive food suited for raising 
the tender nurslings. Young and old require berries of 
various kinds, from time to time, such as cherries, straw- 
berries, whortleberries, &c., and, in short, any kind of 
wild fruits of which they are fond, if not given too freely, 
are useful. A few grasshoppers, beetles, or any insects 
conveniently to be had, as well as gravel, are also neces- 
sary ; and spiders will often revive them when drooping 
or sick. 
The young male bird, which must be selected as a 
singer, may be distinguished by the breadth and purity 
of the white on the wings. This white spot, in a full 
grown male, spreads over the whole 9 primaries, down 
to, and considerably below their coverts, which are also 
white, sometimes slightly tipt with brown. The white 
of the primaries, also, extends to the same distance on 
both vanes of the feathers. In the female, the white is 
less clear, spreads only over 7 or 8 of the primaries, does 
not descend so far, and extends considerably farther down 
on the broad than on the narrow side of the feathers. 
The black is also more inclined to brown. 
