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TURDUS POLYGLOTTUS. 
lending' to the vernal breeze a slight portion of the 
perfume of their clustered flowers ; where a genial 
warmth seldom forsakes the atmosphere ; where berries 
and fruits of all descriptions are met with at every 
step ; in a word, kind reader, it is where nature seems 
to have paused, as she passed over the earth, and, 
opening her stores, to have strewed with unsparing 
hand the diversified seeds from which have sprung all 
the beautiful and splendid forms which I should in vain f 
attempt to describe, that the mocking-bird should have 
fixed its abode — there only that its wondrous song 
should be heard. 
“ But where is that favoured land ? — It is in that great 
continent to whose distant shores Europe has sent 
forth her adventurous sons, to wrest for themselves a 
habitation from the wild inhabitants of the forest, and 
to convert the neglected soil into fields of exuberant 
fertility. It is, reader, in Louisiana that these bounties 
of nature are in the greatest perfection. It is there 
that you should listen to the love song of the mocking- 
bird, as I at this moment do. See how he flies round 
his mate, with motions as light as those of the butterfly ! 
His tail is widely expanded, he mounts in the air to a 
small distance, describes a circle, and, again alighting, 
approaches his beloved one, his eyes gleaming with 
delight, for she has already promised to be his and his 
only. His beautiful wings are gently raised, he bows 
to his love, and, again bouncing upwards, opens his 
bill, and pours forth his melody, full of exultation at 
the conquest which he has made. 
“ They are not the soft sounds of the flute or of the 
hautboy that I hear, but the sweeter notes of Nature’s 
own music. The mellowness of the song, the varied 
modulations and gradations, the extent of its compass, 
the great brilliancy of execution, are unrivalled. There 
is probably no bird in the world that possesses all the 
musical qualifications of this king of song, who has 
derived all from Nature’s self. Yes, reader, all ! 
“.No sooner has he again alighted, and the conjugal 
contract has been sealed, than, as if his breast was 
