Length: About 10 inches; an inch longer than the catbird and an inch shorter than the thrasher; tail about 5 inches long.

Male and Female: A long, slender, brownish-gray bird, with grayish-white under parts; wings and tail dark brown; wings with two white bars and white patches that are conspicuous in flight; middle tail-feathers brown, outer feathers white, others partly white. The female frequently has less white than the male.

Notes: A great variety. Some mockingbirds seem to possess unlimited powers of mimicry; others have far less ability to reproduce sounds.

Song: A sweet, delightful melody, sung in pure liquid tones and with ease and assurance, as though the birds were conscious of their power. They are probably the most famous songsters of America. Sidney Lanier, Walt Whitman, and other poets have written well-known poems in their praise, while Roosevelt and many other prose-writers have added their encomiums.

Habitat: Near the haunts of man, in gardens, parks, tree-shaded streets, and groves.

Range: Southeastern United States chiefly from eastern Nebraska, southern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Maryland, south to eastern Texas, southern Florida and the Bahamas; occasional in New York and Massachusetts, though a number of records have been made near Boston; accidental in Wisconsin, Ontario, Maine, and Nova Scotia; introduced into Bermuda.

The WESTERN MOCKINGBIRD is found in California, southern Wyoming, northwestern Nebraska, and western Kansas, south to Mexico and Lower California. It has a longer tail and wings than the eastern species, and is a paler gray.

Nuttall called the Mockingbird “the unrivalled Orpheus of the forest, and the natural wonder of America.” His voice certainly has power to “soothe the savage breast,” to interest the mind because of the varied range and remarkable technique, and to uplift the soul, especially when heard in the stillness and beauty of a moonlight night.

There is great difference of opinion regarding the “mocker.” He is more loved and admired in the South than in the West, and is regarded with pride as worthy to be called the nightingale of America. Most writers have sung his praises, but occasionally some one regards him with disfavor because of his habit of interlarding his beautiful song with curious and disagreeable sounds. Wilson Flagg says, “He often brings his tiresome extravaganzas to a magnificent climax of melody and as frequently concludes an inimitable chant with a most contemptible bathos.”[120]

The power of mimicry varies with different individuals. In a brief interval of time, one bird may imitate a woodpecker, a phoebe, a wren, a jay, or a cardinal, so as to deceive most listeners. He may produce the sound made by the popping of a cork or the buzzing of a saw; the next moment he may scream like a hawk to frighten chickens and send them to cover, or cluck like an old hen and bring young chicks from their hiding-places. Some mockers seem to be able to reproduce the bird-songs they hear more melodiously than the singers themselves render them.

Mockingbirds’ bravery in defense of their nests and their young is well known. They have an especial antipathy to dogs and cats, and are merciless in their attacks on those animals if seen near the vicinity of their nests. A friend in California told me that her cat was in abject terror of a mockingbird. Instead of considering him tempting prey, she invariably fled to cover when he appeared, and remained in hiding for a time. The fur on her sides was noticeably thinned where the angry bird had pulled out numerous locks. One day, while my family were visiting San Francisco, they heard a dog yelping piteously and discovered him running at lightning speed down the middle of the street. A mockingbird was perched on his back and was pulling hairs out of his tail with spiteful tweaks. Mockers have been known to kill snakes that approached their nests, and to attack human beings with great fury.

They like to live near people and seem to respond to the affection shown them in the South, where they are such favorites that they are seldom molested. Formerly mockingbirds were trapped for cage-birds, as were cardinals, but this practice is largely discontinued now, because of protective laws and aroused public sentiment.

Dr. Henry W. Henshaw says: “It is not surprising that the mockingbird should receive protection principally because of its ability as a songster and its preference for the vicinity of dwellings. Its place in the affections of the South is similar to that occupied by the robin in the North. It is well that this is true, for the bird appears not to earn protection from a strictly economic standpoint. About half of its diet consists of fruit, and many cultivated varieties are attacked, such as oranges, grapes, figs, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Somewhat less than a fourth of the food is animal matter, of which grasshoppers are the largest single element. The bird is fond of cottonworms, and is known to feed on the chinch bug, rice weevil, and bollworm. It is unfortunate that it does not feed on injurious insects to an extent to offset its depredations on fruit.”[121]

Professor Beal says, however, “The mockingbird will probably do little harm to cultivated fruits so long as wild varieties are accessible and abundant.”[122] Wise cultivators of fruit take this into consideration and plant accordingly, to keep both their fruit and the delightful, amusing mockingbirds.