(PATAGONIAN MOCKING-BIRD.)
+Mimus patachonicus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 3; _Hudson, P. Z.
S._ 1872, p. 538 (Rio Negro); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 31
(Chupat); _Döring, Exp. al Rio Negro, Zool._ p. 36 (R. Colorado);
_Sharpe, Cat. B._ vi. p. 352. +Mimus thenca+, _Burm. La-Plata
Reise_, ii. p. 475 (Mendoza)?
_Description._--Above and beneath grey, paler on the under surface,
and tinged with rufous on the belly; throat and mark over the eye
white; wings black, the outer webs of the feathers edged with white
and grey; tail black, tipped with white; bill and feet black; eye
olive-green: total length 9·2 inches, wing 4·2, tail 4·0. _Female_
similar, but smaller in size and lighter in colour.
_Hab._ Northern Patagonia.
The Patagonian Mocking-bird, which I met with during my sojourn on the
Rio Negro of Patagonia in 1871, closely resembles the species just
described, but is smaller, the plumage is of a darker grey, and the
irides are also of a darker green. It is a common bird, resident, lives
alone or with its mate, feeds on insects and berries, and in its manner
of flight and habits is like _Mimus modulator_. The nest is made in
the centre of a bush of thorns and sticks, and lined with dry grass,
cow-hair, or other soft material; and the eggs are four in number,
bluntly pointed, and thickly marked with dark flesh-coloured spots.
When the nest is approached the parent birds come close to the intruder,
often perching within a yard of his head, but without uttering any
sound, differing in this respect from _M. modulator_.
The song of the Patagonian bird is in character like that of the
northern species, the variety of its notes being apparently infinite;
there are, however, some differences worth mentioning. The singing
of the Patagonian species is perhaps inferior, his voice being less
powerful, while his mellow and clear notes are constantly mingled with
shrill ones, resembling the cries of some of the Dendrocolaptine birds.
While incapable of notes so loud or so harsh as those of the northern
bird, or of changes so wild and sudden, he possesses even a greater
variety of soft notes. Day after day for many months I have heard them
singing, yet never once listened to them for any length of time without
hearing some note or phrase I had never heard before. The remarks I have
made concerning the Calandria's mocking-faculties also apply to this
bird: but though he does not actually repeat the notes and songs of
other species, he certainly does mock the notes of individuals of his
own species; for it must be borne in mind that no two individuals sing
quite alike, and that the same bird constantly introduces new notes into
his song, and never repeats his notes in the same order. I have often
observed that when a bird, while singing, emits a few of these _new_
notes, he seems surprised and delighted with them; for, after a silent
pause, he repeats them again and again a vast number of times, as if
to impress them on his memory. When he once more resumes his varied
singing, for hours, and sometimes for days, the expression he has
discovered is still a favourite one, and recurs with the greatest
frequency. But this is not all. If the new note or phrase happens to be
a very striking one, it immediately takes the fancy of all the other
birds within hearing, and often in a small thicket there will be a dozen
or twenty birds near together, each sitting perched on the summit of his
own bush. After the new wonderful note has been sounded they all become
silent and attentive, reminding one in their manner of a caged Parrot
listening to a sound it is trying to learn. Presently they learn it,
and are as pleased with its acquisition as if they had discovered it
themselves, repeating it incessantly. I noticed this curious habit of
the bird many times, and on one occasion I found that for three entire
days all the birds in a small thicket I used to visit every day did
nothing but repeat incessantly two or three singular notes which they
had borrowed from one of their number. The constant repetition of this
one sound had a strongly irritating effect on me; but a day or two later
they had apparently got tired of it themselves, and had resumed their
usual varied singing.
This bird usually sits still upon the summit of a bush when singing,
and its music is heard in all seasons and in all weathers from dawn
till after dark: as a rule it sings in a leisurely unexcited manner,
remaining silent for some time after every five or six or a dozen notes,
and apparently listening to his brother-performers. These snatches of
melody often seem like a prelude or promise of something better coming;
there is often in them such exquisite sweetness and so much variety that
the hearer is ever wishing for a fuller measure, and still the bird
opens his bill to delight and disappoint him, as if not yet ready to
display his whole power.