Identifier: birdlifeguid00chap (find matches)
Title: Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Chapman, Frank M. (Frank Michler), 1864-1945 Seton, Ernest Thompson, 1860-1946
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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e South there are few suitable gar-dens, either in the town or country, which are not inhab-ited by a pair of Mockingbirds. The power of mimicry for which this bird is cele-brated has, I think, been unduly exaggerated, and thefact that its usual song contains several notes resemblingthose of other species doubtless in part accounts for itsmuch overrated ability as a mimic. It is unnecessary,however, for the Mockingbird to borrow the notes of otherbirds, for his own song places him in the front rank ofour songsters. It is delivered with a spirit and animationwhich add greatly to its attractiveness. The Mocking-bird does not sing between mouthfuls, as do the Yireos,or quietly from a perch, like the Towhee or Thrasher;he frequently changes his position, hopping from placeto place, making short nights, bounding into the air, anddisplaying the white markings of his wings and tail, asthough it were impossible for him to give expression tohis emotion through the medium of voice alone. During
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^*t\*Vt U\Qva^^^ Plate LXX. Pages 178, 179.

• CHICKADEE (All species of genus Poecile.
  • Length, 5-25 inches. Crown and throat black; cheeks white; back gray;belly white, washed with brownish.
• BROWN CEEEPER. Certhia americana [See also species category]
  • Length, 5-65 inches. Upper parts brown, rusty, and white; underparts white.

On another page: BROWN THRASHER. • 175 moonlight nights of the nesting season, Mockingbirdssing all night. They are then less active, and, mountingto some favorite perch, often a chimney top, flood thestill air with entrancing melody. Like the Catbird and Mocker, the Brown Thrasher or Brown Thrush inhabits thickets and undergrowth. Brown Thrasher, He is> however, a mnch less domestic Harporhyndus rufus. bird, and prefers brushy pasture lots and Plate lxvii. wayside hedges to lawns or gardens.He arrives from the South the latter part of April, andoften remains until late in October. The nest is builtabout May 15, and is placed on the ground or several feetabove it. The eggs are bluish or grayish white, thickly,evenly, and minutely speckled with cinnamon

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