Besides these, as in allthe land-birds, there is a pair of very slender muscles, the cleido-tracheal,arising from the sides of the thyroid cartilage and inserted into the furcula.The bronchi are rather wide and short, of 12 cartilaginous half rings.As in all the birds of this family, there is a very slender salivarygland on each side, lying between the branch of the lower jaw and the mucousmembrane of the mouth, upon which latter it opens anteriorly to the frenumof the tongue. It is there that you should listen to the love-song of theMocking-bird, as I at this moment do.

Itgrows along the sea-coast, especially near rivers, from Virginia to Florida,flowering through the summer. Especially while nesting, these birds also chase people, dogs, cats, and other predators. The orange, the fig, thepear-tree of the gardens are inspected; the thick briar patches are alsovisited.

A mockingbird dive-bombs a student volunteer in an attempt to drive her away from its nest.

Photograph: Lou Guilette/PNAS "We don't believe mockingbrids evolved an ability to …

Its own song has a pleasant lilting sound and is, at times, both varied and repetitive. The Florida Department of State manages our state's elections, corporations, historical and cultural resources and our libraries.The common mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is a superb songbird and mimic. Grass, tender roots, and leaves form the lining for the small circular nest. Good singing birdsof this species often bring a high price. When the weather is mild, the old males are heard singingwith as much spirit as during the spring or summer, while the younger birdsare busily engaged in practising, preparatory to the love season. Mockingbirds are located all throughout the United States and Mexico and parts of Canada. Cats thathave abandoned the houses to prowl about the fields, in a half wild state,are also dangerous enemies, as they frequently approach the nest unnoticed,and at a pounce secure the mother, or at least destroy the eggs or young,and overturn the nest. His tail is widely expanded,he mounts in the air to a small distance, describes a circle, and, againalighting, approaches his beloved one, his eyes gleaming with delight,for she has already promised to be his and his only. This species is abundant in the Texas, where it breeds.The eggs are generally one inch in length, and nine-twelfths and a quarterin breadth. The mockingbird is the state bird of Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, and Arkansas; President Thomas Jefferson had a pet mockingbird named “Dick.” This bird is very territorial and will not hesitate to attack intruders. The proventricular glands forma belt 5 twelfths of an inch in breadth.

It is coarsely constructedon the outside, being there composed of dried sticks of briars, witheredleaves of trees, and grasses, mixed with wool.

It is also namedCarolina jessamine and yellow jessamine. The mellowness of the song,the varied modulations and gradations, the extent of its compass, the greatbrilliancy of execution, are unrivalled. The oesophagus, is 3 incheslong, and of the nearly uniform width of 4 1/2 twelfths, unless at thecommencement where it is a little wider. Reproduction of the Mockingbird. It travels mostly by day.Few Hawks attack the Mocking-birds, as on their approach, however suddenit may be, they are always ready not only to defend themselves vigorouslyand with undaunted courage, but to meet the aggressor half way, and forcehim to abandon his intention. Children seldom destroy the nests of these birds,and the planters generally protect them. Nay, if the eggs are on the eve of being hatched, she will almost suffera person to lay hold of her.Different species of snakes ascend to their nests, and generally suckthe eggs or swallow the young; but on all such occasions, not only thepair to which the nest belongs, but many other Mocking-birds from the vicinity,fly to the spot, attack the reptiles, and, in some cases, are so fortunateas either to force them to retreat, or deprive them of life. But notwithstanding all the care and managementbestowed upon the improvement of the vocal powers of this bird in confinement,I never heard one in that state produce any thing at all approaching inmelody to its own natural song.The male bird is easily distinguished in the nest, as soon as the broodis a little fledged, it being larger than the female, and showing morepure white.

This shyness, however,is shortly over, as well as the animosity displayed by the resident birds,and during the winter there exists a great appearance of sociality amongthe united tribes.In the beginning of April, sometimes a fortnight earlier, the Mocking-birdspair, and construct their nests. Yes, reader, all!No sooner has he again alighted, and the conjugal contract has beensealed, than, as if his breast was about to be rent with delight, he againpours forth his notes with more softness and richness than before. Internally it is finishedwith fibrous roots disposed in a circular form, but carelessly arranged.The female lays from four to six eggs the first time, four or five thenext, and when there is a third brood, which is sometimes the case, seldommore than three, of which I have rarely found more than two hatched.

It is where the great magnolia shoots up its majestic trunk, crownedwith evergreen leaves, and decorated with a thousand beautiful flowers,that perfume the air around; where the forests and fields are adorned withblossoms of every hue; where the golden orange ornaments the gardens andgroves; where bignonias of various kinds interlace their climbing stemsaround the white-flowered stuartia, and mounting still higher, cover thesummits of the lofty trees around, accompanied with innumerable vines,that here and there festoon the dense foliage of the magnificent woods,lending to the vernal breeze a slight portion of the perfume of their clusteredflowers; where a genial warmth seldom forsakes the atmosphere; where berriesand fruits of all descriptions are met with at every step;–in a word,kind reader, it is where Nature seems to have paused, as she passed overthe earth, and opening her stores, to have strewed with unsparing handthe diversified seeds from which have sprung all the beautiful and splendidforms which I should in vain attempt to describe, that the Mocking-birdshould have fixed its abode, there only that its wondrous song should beheard.But where is that favoured land?–It is in this great continent.–Itis, reader, in Louisiana that these bounties of nature are in the greatestperfection.