68 
THE MOCKING BIRD. 
of America, from the Middle States to Brazil. His food 
consists of insects, berries, and worms. 
ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 
Mr. Wilson, an enthusiastic admirer of the Mocking Bird, 
thus describes his song : — 
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 faithfully. He runs over the quiverings of the 
canary, and the clear whistlings of the Virginia nightin- 
gale, 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. 
Were it not to seem invidious in the eyes of foreigners, I 
might, in this place, make a comparative statement between 
the powers of the Mocking Bird, and the only bird, I believe, 
in the world, worthy of being compared with him, — the 
