WESTERN BIRDS Mockingbird 



Can we wonder that the birds are vindictive toward 

 any cat they see? 



The nest is a loosely-constructed affair made of twigs, 

 strings, coarse grasses and a finer lining of fibers, cotton, 

 etc. Both birds help at the building, although the female 

 does the most of it, as well as all of the brooding, leaving 

 the nest when she wishes food. But the male is a de- 

 voted parent and works hard to feed his offspring. Any 

 one doubting the economic value of these birds need only 

 to watch the long worms, moths, spiders, and various 

 other insects, that are brought to the nest. The young 

 are the noisiest of bantlings and even when as large as 

 their parents keep up a whining, complaining peep, which 

 brings the indulgent parent with another worm. 



Students of bird life have found that individuals of 

 a species often vary in their songs, some excelling others. 

 And so it is with the Mockingbirds. Some there are that 

 are marvelous imitators while others are more mediocre, 

 using their own warbling song but doing less real 

 mocking. 



In Southern California the birds sing for the most of 

 the year, resting during the fall moulting season, 

 although even in September they may be heard. 



At the nesting season, which stretches over many 

 months, they sing night and day, causing me to wonder 

 if they never stop to eat. Loud and clear the notes 

 pour forth so that they may be heard blocks away. 

 With the perfume of the orange blossoms filling the air, 

 the moonlight flooding the earth, and the gray songster 

 singing as though his life depended upon it, the person 

 who does not feel that after all life is worth while, surely 

 needs our commiseration. 



Not only does this rogue so perfectly mock the call of 

 the chicken in distress that many a tired farmer has 

 dragged himself from bed to see what was troubling his 

 fowls, but he so repeats the calls of the wild birds about 



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