MOCKING-BIRD, or Mock-Bird (as Charleton, Ray, and Catesby wrote its name), the Mimus polyglottus of modern ornithologists, and the well-known representative of an American group of birds usually placed among the Thrushes (7.v.), Turdidae, though often regarded as forming a distinct section of that Family, differing by having the tarsus scutellate in front, while the typical Thrushes have it covered by a single horny plate. The Mocking-bird inhabits the greater part of the United States, being in the north only a summer-visitant; but, though breeding yearly in New England, is not common there, and migrates to the south in winter, passing that season in the Gulf States and Mexico. It appears to be less numerous on the western side of the Alleghanies, though found in suitable localities across the continent to the Pacific coast, but not farther northward than Wisconsin, and it is said to be common in Kansas. Audubon states that the Mocking-birds which are resident all the year round in Louisiana attack their travelled brethren on the return of the latter from the north in autumn. The names of the species, both English and scientific, have been bestowed from its capacity of successfully imitating the cry of many other birds, to say nothing of other sounds, in addition to uttering notes of its own which possess a varied range and liquid fulness of tone that are unequalled, according to its admirers, even by those of the Nightingale (7.v.). This opinion may perhaps be correct; but, from the nature of the case, a satisfactory judgment can scarcely be pronounced, since a comparison of the voice of the two songsters can only be made from memory, and that is of course affected by associations of ideas which would preclude a fair estimate. To hear either bird at its best it must ...be at liberty; and the bringing together of captive examples, unless it could be done with so many of each species as to ensure an honest trial, would be of little avail. Plain in plumage, being greyish-brown above and dull white below, while its quills are dingy black, variegated with white, there is little about the Mocking-bird’s appearance beyond its graceful form to recommend it; but the lively gesticulations it exhibits are very attractive, and therein its European rival in melody is far surpassed, for the cock-bird mounts aloft in rapid circling flight, and, alighting on a conspicuous perch, pours forth his everchanging song to the delight of all listeners; while his actions in attendance on his mate are playfully demonstrative and equally interest the observer. The Mocking-bird is moreover of familiar habits, haunting the neighbourhood of houses, and is therefore a general favourite. The nest is placed with little regard to concealment, and is not distinguished by much care in its construction. The eggs, from three to six in number, are of a pale bluish-green, blotched and spotted with light yellowish-brown. They, as well as the young, are much sought after by snakes, but the parents are often successful in repelling these deadly enemies, and are always ready to wage war against any intruder on their precincts, be it man, cat, or hawk. Their food is various, consisting of berries, seeds, and insects.
Some twelve or fourteen other species of Mimus have been recognized, mostly from South America; but Μ. orpheus seems to be common to some of the Greater Antilles, and Μ. hilli is peculiar to Jamaica, while the Bahamas have a local race in Μ. bahamensis. The so-called Mountain Mocking-bird (Orcoscoptcs montanus') is a form not very distant from Mimus ; but, according to Mr. Ridgway, it inhabits exclusively the plains overgrown with Artemisia of the interior tableland of North America, and is not at all imitative in its notes, so that it is an instance of a misnomer. Of the various other genera allied to Mimus, those known in the United States as Threshers, and belonging to the genus Harporhynchus— of which six or eight species are found in North America, and are very Thrush-like in their habits—must be mentioned; but there is only room here to dwell on the Cat-bird (Galeoscoptcs carolincnsis), which is nearly as accomplished an imitator of sounds as its more celebrated relative, with at the same time peculiar notes of its own, from one of which it has gained its popular name. The sooty-grey colour that, deepening into blackish-brown on the crown and quills, pervades the whole of its plumage—the lower tail-coverts, which are of a deep chestnut, excepted—renders it a conspicuous object; and though, for some reason or other, far from being a favourite, it is always willing when undisturbed to become intimate with men’s abodes. It has a much wider range on the American continent than the Mocking-bird, and is one of the few species that are resident in Bermuda, while on more than one occasion it is said to have appeared in Europe.
The name Mocking-bird, or more frequently Mock-Nightingale, is in England occasionally given to some of the Warblers (ÿ.u), especially the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), and the Sedge-bird (Acroccphalus schoenobaenus). In India and Australia the same name is sometimes applied to other species.
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