MOCKING BIRD, 
98 
“ He bounds aloft with the celerity of an arrow, as if 
to recover or recall his very soul, expired in the last 
elevated strain.”^ While thus exerting* himself, a 
bystander destitute of sight would suppose that the 
whole feathered tribes had assembled together, on a 
trial of skill ; each striving to produce his utmost 
effect ; so perfect are his imitations. He many times 
deceives the sportsman, and sends him in search of 
birds that perhaps are not within miles of him ; but 
whose notes he exactly imitates ; even birds themselves 
are frequently imposed on by this admiral mimic, and 
are decoyed by the fancied calls of their mates ; or 
dive, with precipitation, into the depth of thickets, at 
the scream of what they suppose to be the sparrow 
hawk. 
The mocking bird loses little of the power and energy 
of his song by confinement. In his domesticated state, 
when he commences his career of song, it is impossible 
to stand by uninterested. He whistles for the dog ; 
Caesar starts up, wags his tail, and runs to meet his 
master. He squeaks out like a hurt chicken, and the 
hen hurries about with hanging wings, and bristled 
feathers, clucking to protect its injured brood. The 
barking of the dog, the mewing of the cat, the creaking 
of a passing wheelbarrow, follow, with great truth 
and rapidity. He repeats the tune taught him by his 
master, though of considerable length, fully and faith- 
fully. He runs over the quiverings of the canary, and 
the clear whistlings of the Virginia nightingale, or 
red bird, with such superior execution and effect , that 
the mortified songsters feel their own inferiority, and 
become altogether silent ; while he seems to triumph 
in their defeat by redoubling his exertions. 
This excessive fondness for variety, however, in the 
opinion of some, injures his song. His elevated imita- 
tions of the brown thrush are frequently interrupted by 
the crowing of cocks ; and the warblings of the blue- 
bird, which he exquisitely manages, are mingled with the 
* Travels, p. 82. Introduction. 
