Such a medley of notes,
snatched from half the songsters of the field and forest, and uttered
with the utmost clearness and rapidity, I am sure you cannot hear
short of the haunts of the genuine mockingbird. If not fully and
accurately repeated, there are at least suggested the notes of the
robin, wren, catbird, high-hole, goldfinch, and song sparrow. The pip,
pip, of the last is produced so accurately that I verily believe it
would deceive the bird herself; and the whole uttered in such rapid
succession that it seems as if the movement that gives the concluding
note of one strain must form the first note of the next. The effect is
very rich, and, to my ear, entirely unique. The performer is very
careful not to reveal himself in the mean time; yet there is a
conscious air about the strain that impresses me with the idea that my
presence is understood and my attention courted. A tone of pride and
glee, and, occasionally, of bantering jocoseness, is discernible. I
believe it is only rarely, and when he is sure of his audience, that
he displays his parts in this manner. You are to look for him, not in
tall trees or deep forests, but in low, dense shrubbery about wet
places, where there are plenty of gnats and mosquitoes.
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