MOCKING BIRD. 
91 
may be attended to ; by which some pretend to be able 
to distinguish them in less than a week after they are 
hatched. These are, the breadth and purity of the 
white on the wings, for that on the tail is not so much 
to be depended on. This white, in a full grown male 
bird, spreads over the whole nine primaries, down to, 
and considerably below, their coverts, which are also 
white, sometimes slightly tipt with brown. The white 
of the primaries also extends equally far on both vanes 
of the feathers. In the female, the white is less pure, 
spreads over only seven or eight 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 of a brownish cast. 
The young birds, if intended for the cage, ought not 
to be left till they are nearly ready to fly ; but should 
be taken rather young than otherwise ; and may he 
fed, every half hour, with milk, thickened with Indian 
meal ; mixing occasionally with it a little fresh meat, 
cut or minced very fine. After they begin to eat of 
their own accord, they ought still to be fed by hand, 
though at longer intervals, and a few cherries, straw- 
berries, &c. now and then thrown in to them. The 
same sort of food, adding grasshoppers and fruit, parti- 
cularly the various kinds of berries in which they 
delight ; and plenty of clear, fine gravel, is found very 
proper for them after they are grown up. Should the 
bird at any time appear sick or dejected, a few spiders 
thrown in to him will generally remove these symptoms 
of disease. 
If the young bird is designed to be taught by an old 
one, the best singer should be selected for this office, 
and no other allowed to be beside him. Or, if by the 
bird organ, or mouth-whistling, it should be begun 
early, and continued, pretty constantly, by the same 
person, until the scholar, who is seldom inattentive, 
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 
