EASTERN MOCKINGBIRD 313 



and lacks the sharply contrasting pattern of the loggerhead, as well as 

 the black Ime through the eye. 



Albinism is not rare in mockingbirds, and the writer has seen speci- 

 mens ranging from totality to only a few feathers in wings or tail. 

 A totally albino bird was reported to the writer on May 29, 1940, as 

 occurring in the grounds of a resident of a Charleston (S. C.) suburb 

 for several clays. Two or three specimens were brought into the 

 Charleston Museum during the years the writer was connected with 

 tliat institution, and the late A. T. Wayne had at least one specimen 

 in his collection. 



Enemies. — The mockingbird is probably as free from natural ene- 

 mies as any passerine bird could be. Because of its pugnacious tend- 

 encies it, like the kingbird {Tyrannus tyrannus), takes the offensive 

 rather than the defensive against all avian enemies, although, of 

 course, it would be and sometimes doubtless is a victim of such preda- 

 tory species as the accipitrine hawks. 



In regard to man it is fortunate in holding a high place in public 

 sentiment and affection. If a census could be taken regarding the bird 

 most beloved by the public generally throughout the entire country, 

 the result would probably be a close race between the mockingbird 

 and the robin. Even the small boy, who must be classed as a predatory 

 animal of dangerous proportions at one stage of his development, 

 usually directs his slingshot, airgun, or .22 rifle at some other avian 

 target than this general favorite. 



Years ago the mocker figured largely as a cage bird in many parts 

 of the South at least, but this practice is now all but nonexistent except 

 in the most remote regions where the laws governing it are not well 

 known. The bird's attacks on fruit orchards and groves are not serious, 

 and few are done away with on such accounts. 



Dr. Friedmann (1934) cites only two cases in which the mocking- 

 bird has been imposed upon by the cowbird. 



E. B. Chamberlain (MS.) records a very interesting occurrence that 

 took place in the yard of his residence near Charleston, S. C. He had 

 been watching the nest of a mockingbird in a small oak, where it was 

 built near the end of a limb and only 4 feet from the ground. On the 

 afternoon of July 7, 1942, it held four pinfeathered young. As he 

 came into the yard that afternoon, a Cooper's hawk rose from the 

 nest, bearing one of the young in its claws. It stopped in a larger 

 oak nearby but escaped out of the far side before it could be shot. 

 An hour later there was an outcry from the mockers and on rushing 

 out. Chamberlain saw the hawk making away with a second youngster. 

 I "cut loose," he says, "just for the noise effect as I had no chance to 

 hit the hawk." The next day passed without a repeat visit from 

 the hawk, but on the following day (9th) "again I met the spectacle of 

 the hawk leaving the nest, the third young in its talons." The adult 



