The Mockingbird 275 



■ear. Not all Mockingbirds have equal power of imitation. The gift of mocking 

 in different individuals seems to vary as much as the range of their natural song. 

 An observer in South Carolina speaks of hearing one mimic the notes of no less 

 than thirty-two birds during an interval of ten minutes. 



The nest of the Mockingbird is variously situated, in small trees, brush heaps, 



briers, in the corners of rail-fences, in the decayed trunks of trees, on stumps, 



in piles of cord-wood, and at times in vines growing about the 



Nesting doors and verandas of southern homes. Once I found a nest 



Habits 



between the wall and the stick-and-clay chimney of a ruuied 

 negro cabin. The nesting material consists of twigs, plant stems, dry grasses, 

 pieces of paper, strings, strips of bark, feathers, rags, or other suitable articles 

 which can easily be procured. The structure is generally lined with rootlets. 

 The distance at which the nest is placed above the ground varies from three 

 to ten feet. Rarely one may be seen elevated fifty feet in the air on the bough of 

 a large tree. 



The eggs have a pale greenish blue ground-color, and are rather heavily 

 covered with reddish brown spots. Four is the number generally laid in a nest, 

 sometimes five, and rarely six. The one profession of the male in spring is sing- 

 ing, and so completely does this engross his mind that to his mate is left the entire 

 responsibility of constructing their habitation and hatching the eggs. May is 

 the principal month for nesting, although I have seen Mockingbirds incubating 

 their eggs as far north as Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina, by April 10. In the 

 southern part of its range two broods are reared in a season. 



While engaged in incubation or caring for the young, the nest is guarded 

 with the utmost care. The parents will not hesitate to attack any enemy, real or 

 imaginary, which may approach their domain, be it Crow, or dog, or man. If 

 they do not actually assail, they will at least approach near and scold soundly. 

 Their cry of alarm at once warns other birds in the vicinity of approaching 

 ■danger. If the intruder be a Hawk, the cry is taken up and passed from garden 

 to garden b\' these self-apj)ointed sentinels, and the evil news of the Hawk's 

 apprcach is heralded faster than the winged desperado can i\y. 



If a Mockingbird's nest be destroyed, the mother-bird will, within a few 

 ■days, begin building a new one. If an accident likewise befalls this, still another 

 will be built. A pair once made their nest among the rails of a fence near my 

 home. The owner of the fence soon afterward, while making some repairs, 

 accidentallv tore the nest from its position and the eggs were broken. The birds 

 then built in a small tree nearby, but an animal in the pasture rubbed the tree 

 down, and the birds were again without a home. In their search for a more secure 

 position, the distressed Mockers sought the protection of a large orange tree, 

 and on a large horizontal limb, ten feet from the ground, built a nest. Here more 

 trouble awaited them, for a cat climbed the tree, despite the thorns, and ate the 

 young in the nest. If the poor birds were discouraged by this series of disasters, 

 they did not show it by their actions. A week after this last catastrophe I saw 



