64 
THE MOCKING BIRD. 
Success) A attempts have been made to breed these birds 
in confinement by allowing them retirement and a sufficiency 
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 young 
are easily reared by hand from the nest, from which they 
ought to be removed at eight or ten days old. Their food is 
thickened meal and water, or meal and milk, mixed occasion¬ 
ally with tender fresh meat, minced fine. Animal food, almost 
alone, finely divided and soaked in milk, is at first the only 
nutriment suited for raising these tender nurslings. Young 
and old require berries of various kinds, from time to time, 
such as cherries, strawberries, 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 
necessary; and spiders will often revive them when drooping 
or sick. But, notwithstanding all the care and management 
bestowed upon the improvement of this bird, it is painful to 
reflect that his extraordinary powers of nature, exercised with 
so much generous freedom in a state of confinement, are not 
calculated for long endurance; for, after this most wonderful 
and interesting prisoner has survived six or seven years, 
blindness often terminates his gay career—thus shut out from 
the cheering light of heaven, the solace of his lonely, though 
active existence, he now, after a time, droops in silent sadness 
and dies. At times, this bird is so infested with a minute 
species of louse as to be destroyed by it. 
Good singing birds of this species generally command from 
$5 to $15 each, though individuals of extraordinary and 
peculiar powers have been sold as high as $50, or $100, each, 
ane even $300 have been refused ! 
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