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MOCK , an See also:adjective meaning sham, feigned, See also:spurious, falsely imitative. As a verb it means to deride or imitate contemptuously. The derivation of O. Fr. mocquer, mod. moquer; Ital. moccare, from which the See also:English word is adopted, is disputed. Some authorities refer it to Ger. mucken, mucksen, to growl, grumble, which is probably echoic in origin; others to a supposed See also:Late See also:Lat. muccare, formed from mucus—mucus, in the sense of " to wipe the See also:nose at."
MOCKING-See also:BIRD, or MOCK-BIRD (as W. Charleton, J. See also:Ray and M. See also:Catesby called it), the popular name of birds belonging to the See also:American sub-See also:family Miminae of the thrushes, Turdidae, differing by having the See also:tarsus scutellate in front, while the typical thrushes have it covered by a single horny See also:plate. Mimus polyglottus, the See also:northern mocking-bird, inhabits the See also:southern See also:part of the See also:United States, being in the See also:north only a summer visitant; it breeds rarely in New See also:England, is seldom found north of the 38th parallel, and migrates to the See also:south in See also:winter, passing that See also:season in the Gulf States and See also:Mexico. It appears to be less numerous on the western See also:side of the Alleghanies, though found in suitable localities across the See also:continent to the Pacific See also:coast, but seldom farther north than See also:Virginia and southern See also:Illinois, and it is said to be See also:common in See also:Kansas. J. J. See also:Audubon states that the mocking-birds which are See also:resident all the See also:year See also:round in See also:Louisiana attack their travelled brethren on the return of the latter from the north in autumn. The names of the See also:species, both English and scientific, have been bestowed from its capacity of success-fully imitating the cry of many other birds, to say nothing of other sounds, in addition to uttering notes of its own which possess a varied range and liquid fullness of See also:tone that are unequalled, according to its admirers, even by those of the See also:nightingale (q.v.).
See also:Plain in plumage, being greyish See also:- BROWN
- BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-181o)
- BROWN, FORD MADOX (1821-1893)
- BROWN, FRANCIS (1849- )
- BROWN, GEORGE (1818-188o)
- BROWN, HENRY KIRKE (1814-1886)
- BROWN, JACOB (1775–1828)
- BROWN, JOHN (1715–1766)
- BROWN, JOHN (1722-1787)
- BROWN, JOHN (1735–1788)
- BROWN, JOHN (1784–1858)
- BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859)
- BROWN, JOHN (1810—1882)
- BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831— )
- BROWN, ROBERT (1773-1858)
- BROWN, SAMUEL MORISON (1817—1856)
- BROWN, SIR GEORGE (1790-1865)
- BROWN, SIR JOHN (1816-1896)
- BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART
- BROWN, THOMAS (1663-1704)
- BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820)
- BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897)
- BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (1755–1830)
brown above and dull See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
white below, while its quills are dingy See also:black, variegated with white, there is little about the mocking-bird's See also:appearance beyond its graceful See also:form to recommend it; but the lively gesticulations it exhibits are very attractive, and therein its See also:European See also:rival in See also:melody is fax surpassed, for the See also:cock-bird mounts aloft in rapid
circling See also:flight, and, alighting on a conspicuous See also:perch, pours forth his ever-changing See also:song to the delight of all listeners; while his actions in attendance on his See also:mate are playfully See also:demonstrative and equally See also:interest the observer. The mocking-bird is more-over of See also:familiar habits, haunting the neighbourhood of houses, and is therefore a See also:general favourite. The See also:nest is placed with little regard to concealment, and is not distinguished by much care in its construction: The eggs, from three to six in number, are of a See also:pale bluish-See also:green, blotched and spotted with See also:light yellowish-brown. They, as well as the See also:young, are much sought after by See also:snakes, but the parents are often successful in repelling these deadly enemies, and are always ready to wage See also:war against any intruder on their precincts, be it See also:man, See also:cat or See also:hawk. Their See also:food is various, consisting of berries, seeds and See also:insects.
Some twelve or fourteen other species of Mimus have been recognized, mostly from South See also:America; but M. See also:Orpheus seems to be common to some of the Greater See also:Antilles, and M. hilli is See also:peculiar to
See also:Jamaica, while the See also:Bahamas have a See also:local See also:race in M. bahamensis. he so-called See also:mountain mocking-bird (Oreoscoptes montanus) is a form not very distant from Mimus; but it inhabits exclusively the plains overgrown with See also:sage-See also:brush (See also:Artemisia) of the interior table-See also:land of North America, and is not at all imitative in its notes, so that it is an instance of a misnomer. Of the various other genera allied to Mimus, the best known are the thrashers (genus Harporhynchus) of which six or eight species are found in North America, which are See also:thrush-like and shy in their habits and do not mimic; and the cat-bird (Galeoscoptes carolinensis), which in addition to having an attractive song, utters clucks, whistles and mewing sounds. The sooty-See also:grey See also:colour that, deepening into blackish-brown on the See also:crown and quills, pervades the whole of its plumage—the See also:lower tail-coverts, which are of a deep See also:chestnut, excepted—renders it a conspicuous See also:object; and though, for some See also:reason or other, far from being a favourite, it is always willing when undisturbed to become intimate with men's abodes. It has a much wider range on the American continent than the mocking-bird, and is one of the few species that are resident in Bermuda, while on more than one occasion it is said to have appeared in See also:Europe.
The name mocking-bird, or more frequently mock-nightingale, is in England occasionally given to some of the warblers (q.v.), especially the blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), and the sedge-bird (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus). In See also:India and See also:Australia the same name is sometimes applied to other species. (A.
End of Article: MOCK
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