in the nature of their food. More or less terrestrial in their habits, they are all provided with strong elongated tarsi, on which they walk or hop about, under hedges and bushes, over lawns and fields. In summer they dwell in pairs, but in winter, (at least it is the case with the greater number of the European species,) they congregate together in immense flocks, scattering themselves, in search of food, over ploughed lands and pastures. Many, as the fieldfare, the redwing, &c., are birds of passage, breeding in the north, and visiting the more temperate latitudes on the approach of winter. Hence, the early appearance of flocks of fieldfares indicates that the cold has already set in, in the north, and that an early winter may be expected.

The present family has representatives in every part of the world; and contains some of the richest of our birds of song. Of many the colours are glowing and beautiful.

The restricted genus Turdus is represented by that delightful songster, the well-known THRUSH, (Turdus musicus,) whose full and varied notes poured forth from the highest branch of some tall tree in the grove or the orchard, welcome the earliest dawn of morning, and the calmness of evening. The Blackbird, another melodious songster, though formerly placed among the true Thrushes, belongs to a different genus, namely, Merula; but the missel-thrush, the redwing, the fieldfare, &c. belong to the genus Turdus, where, though not perhaps strictly, may also be placed that celebrated species, the MockING BIRD, of America, (Orpheus polyglottus, SWAINS.) which, as the finest vocalist of the feathered choir, demands a more detailed notice. "The plumage of the Mocking Bird, (see the American Ornithology,) though none of the homeliest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it; and had he nothing else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice; but his figure is well proportioned, and even handsome. The ease, elegance, and rapidity of his movements, the animation of his eye and the intelligence he displays in listening, and laying up

lessons from almost every species of the feathered creation within his hearing, are really surprising, and mark the peculiarity of his genus. To these qualities we may add that of a voice, full, strong, and musical, and capable of almost every modulation from the clear mellow tones of the wood-thrush, to the savage scream of the bald eagle. In measure and accent he faithfully follows his originals. In force and sweetness of expression, he greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, mounted on the top of a tall bush, or half grown tree, in the dawn of a dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, his admirable song rises preeminent over every competitor. The ear can

THE MOCKING BIRD.

listen to his music alone, to which that of all the others seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this strain altogether imitative. His own native notes, which are

easily distinguishable by such as are well acquainted with those of our own various song birds, are bold and full, and varied seemingly beyond all limits. They consist of short expressions of two, three, or at the most five or six syllables; generally interspersed with imitations, and all of them uttered with great emphasis and rapidity; and continued with undiminished ardour for half an hour or an hour at a time. His expanding wings and tail glistening with white, and the buoyant gaiety of his action arresting the eye, as his song most irresistibly does the ear, he sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstasy; he mounts or descends as his song swells or dies away." "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 admirable 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; Cesar 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 bristling feathers, 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 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."

Audubon states that the Mocking Bird remains in Louisiana the whole year. In the northern states it comes and goes with the seasons. It is widely distributed through the continent of America, having been traced from the states of New England to Brazil, every where preferring districts adjacent to the sea. Its food consists of berries of various kinds, as well as of insects also. This interesting bird builds in thick bushes, and impenetrable thickets; an orange tree, cedar, or holly, or fruit tree in a garden are among the usual retreats; not that the bird is over anxious to conceal his nest from man, but from foes more dreaded—the cat, the hawk, and the snake; no animal can approach the precincts of that guarded spot, without being attacked; and both the cat and the snake are frequently compelled to make a precipitate retreat before the active and intrepid assaults of the spirited pair.

In Louisiana, the Mocking Bird is a general favourite ; exempt from the destruction which the sportsman scatters among the feathered race in general, with promiscuous wantonness. The nest is a rude construction of twigs, sticks, straws, and wool, lined with vegetable fibres. The eggs are five in number, of a dull blue, blotched with brown.

The males and females differ little in their plumage. The upper parts are of a dark brownish ash; the wings and tail nearly black, the primary feathers being white at their base, so as to form a large spot of that colour on the wing. The whole of the greater coverts, and the tips of the lesser coverts are white, as is the outer tail-feather; the rest being tipped with that colour. The whole of the under surface is of a pale brownish white. Bill and tarsi black. Length, nine inches and a half.

"The eagerness with which the nest of the Mocking Bird is sought for in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, has rendered this bird extremely scarce for an extent of several miles round the city. In the country round Wilmington and Newcastle, they are very numerous, from whence they are frequently brought for sale." The

usual price of a singing bird is from seven to fifteen, and even twenty dollars. "I have known," says Mr. Audubon, "fifty dollars paid for a remarkably fine singer; and one instance where one hundred dollars were refused for a still more extraordinary one."

Attempts, showing it not unlikely to succeed, have been made, with a view to the breeding of the Mocking Bird in captivity.

Besides the Mocking Bird, America possesses several species of Thrush, whose notes are only inferior to those of the great leader.

The WOOD THRUSH, (Turdus mustelinus, GM.) may be noticed; it visits Pennsylvania in April, arriving from the regions of the north, and takes up its residence in warm dells or hollows clothed with wood, where, mounting on the top of some tall tree, even though the leaves are but just peeping from the bud, and the cold of winter is scarcely passed, it pours out a succession of few but rich and mellow notes: the song consists of five or six parts, the prelude to which, strongly resembles the doubletonguing of a German flute, and sometimes the tinkling of a small bell.

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The FERRUGINOUS, or BROWN THRUSH, (Turdus rufus, L.) is another melodious songster, whose voice, varied, full, and powerful, resounds through the groves of the United States; a welcome visitant in spring to every lover of rural scenery and rural song. In the months of April and May, when our woods, hedge-rows, orchards, and cherry trees are one profusion of blossoms, when every object around us conveys the sweet sensation of joy, and Heaven's abundance, as it were, showering around us, the grateful heart beats in unison with the varying elevated strains of this excellent bird; we listen to its notes with a kind of devotional ecstasy, as a morning hymn to the great and most adorable Creator. The human being who amidst such scenes, and in such seasons of rural serenity and delight, can pass them with cold