Bird Study 97 



11. Give instances of the parents' devotion to the young birds. 



12. Have you seen two mockingbirds dancing before each other just 

 before the nesting season ? 



13. In the spring have you heard a mocker sing while mounting from 

 the lower to the upper branches of a tree and then after pouring forth his 

 best song fall backward with a sweet, gurgling song as if intoxicated with 

 his music ? 



14. How many broods does a pair of mockers raise during one season ? 

 How does the color of the breast of the young differ from that of the 

 parent ? 



15. How does the father bird protect the nestlings from other birds, 

 cats and snakes? 



1 6. Does the mocker select certain places for his own hunting grounds 

 and drive off other mockers which trespass? 



17. Describe the colors of the mockingbird as follows: Beak, head, 

 back, tail, wings, throat, breast, under parts and feet. 



1 8. What is the natural food of the mockingbirds and how do they 

 benefit the farmer? How does the mocker act when attacking a ground 

 beetle? 



19. Have you seen mockingbirds frighten other birds by imitating 

 the cry of a hawk? Have you seen them play other kinds of tricks? 



20. Write a little story which shall include your own observations on 

 the ways of pet mockingbirds which 3^ou have known. 



Supplementary reading True Bird Stories, Miller, p. 142; Bob, by 

 Sidney Lanier; Second Book of Birds, Miller, p. 34; Birds of Song and 

 Story, Grinnell, p. 29; Stories About Birds, Kirby, p. 94. 



"Soft and low the song began: I scarcely caught it as -it ran 

 Through the melancholy trill of the plaintive whip-poor-will, 

 Through the ringdove's gentle wail, chattering jay and whistling quail, 

 Sparrow's twitter, catbird's cry, redbird's whistle, robin's sigh; 

 Blackbird, bluebird, swallow, lark, each his native note might mark. 



Oft he tried the lesson o'er, each time louder than before; 

 Burst at length the finished song, loud and clear it poured along; 

 All the choir in silence heard, hushed before this wondrous bird. 

 All transported and amazed, scarcely breathing, long I gazed. 

 Now it reached the loudest swell; lower, lower, now it fell, 

 Lower, lower, lower still, scarce it sounded o'er the rill." 



JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE. 



