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Writing about the mockingbird poses a real problem for me. I tend to go on and on, for there is much to intrigue about this aggressive and musically talented bundle of gray and white feathers.
Mimus polyglottos is the bird’s Latin name; mimus meaning “mimic,” as one would guess. Polyglottos translates into “many tongues.” If we use the word tongues as it is used in the Bible, it means many languages, and surely the mockingbird has a multiplicity of voices with all the birds he can imitate.
In imitating, Mimus is not limited to other birds, by the way. That, however, is another story.
Besides possessing remarkable vocal talent, the mockingbird has another quality that even the most casual bird watcher has experienced. In guarding its winter food supply and protecting the nest and young, the mockingbird will attack anything — cats, dogs, horses, humans and other birds regardless of size.
Once I saw a mockingbird attack a crow-sized pileated woodpecker with such fury that the big bird with a formidable bill literally fell to the ground. Assaults on large hawks are common, and Mimus has even been known to attack the great-homed owl, the “tiger of the air.”
1 just checked the spelling of “aggressive” in the dictionary and noted the definition: "... an unprovoked attack.” The object of a mockingbird’s attack may well feel that he or she has done nothing to incite the fury of the attacker. Mimus perceives otherwise, and that is what is important. Mockingbirds have long memories and nurse grudges forever, like an elephant.
My experience with mockingbirds go back too many years to name. 1 grew up in a small town in central North Carolina. (1 do not apologize, by the way, for not being a born Virginian.) I am a southerner, and us transplants bring a unique level of loyalty and devotion to our adopted state. There is no difference between a mockingbird in Virginia and North Carolina. Mimus polyglottos was, until recently, a distinctly southern bird.
I was probably about 10 years old when I was given a gray and white kitten. It was a male, and 1
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