MOCKlINGBIRD
PR

The mockingbird is found throughout the eastern United States but is generally considered a bird of the Southland. In all probability, the early settlers at Jamestown heard it sing from the ridgepoles of thatched huts or sharpened ends of the palisade because mockingbirds enjoy the company of man.

As its name implies, the slender gray bird with white flashes in its wings and tail is a mimic second to none. Cardinals, Carolina wrens, towhees, hawks, jays and even bobwhite quail are imitated with ease. For good measure, its repertoire includes the clucking of a hen, the whine of a puppy, the squeaking of a wheelbarrow or the call of young birds that have not yet learned their own songs.

The mockingbird is not just a buffoon. In its own right, it is probably the most gifted in song of all birds. Sidney Lanier, the great American poet, calls him a "heavenly bird" and writes that he will be named "Brother" by Beethoven and Keats when he joins the unseen singers in the spirit world. Certainly if one has not heard a mockingbird burst its heart in song on a warm summer moonlit night, one has not experienced a truly full life.

Mockingbirds are staunch defenders of home and young, fighting off snakes, cats, dogs, hawks, and even man with surprising ferocity and skill.

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