State Prints - Treasures of TX Mockingbird

The mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) became the "Official Bird" of Texas in (1927). The
Mockingbird is about ten inches in length, including its relatively long tail. It has a light gray coat
and a whitish underside. Its wings and tail are darker gray with white patches.

Ask any Texan, and you will no doubt learn that the mockingbird has the prettiest song of any bird
native to North America. That's perhaps the main reason the "mocker" was adopted as the state bird
of Texas. Legend has it when Texas chose the mockingbird as its state bird, the resolution stated that
the bird is "a fighter for the protection of his home, falling, if need be, in its defense, like any true
Texan..." Its species name comes from the Greek mimus to mimic, and ployglottos for "many-
tongued.”