The Mockingbird of the Arnold Arboretum 



By C. H. EARLY, Boston, Mass. 



IX THE early spring of 1915, when I was walking along that part of the 

 Boston park system known as 'Arborway,' my attention was suddenly 

 attracted to the topmost part of a small cherry tree near the Forest Hills 

 entrance of the Arnold Arboretum. From a point of vantage which no one 

 could dispute, one of our feathered friends was pouring forth a melody so sweet 

 and voluminous that I wondered how others who were passing by at the time 

 could so easily ignore it. 



As I had been for some little time a follower of the bird-life of southeastern 

 Massachusetts, I knew that the notes coming from that musically developed 

 throat were not those of a bird common to this locality. At first the song 

 was a series of warbles, full-throated, and containing many crescendos and 

 diminuendos; then it resolved itself into a series of short snatches of song 

 resembling the songs of a number of our resident birds, both summer and 

 permanent. 



The Blue Jay's notes, both the hsLVshjay and the tuneful, bell-like, ge-rul-lup, 

 ge-rul-htp, and three of the Robin's repertoire, viz., his alarm call, his 'rain' 

 call, and his ordinary song, were very frequently imitated. Other bird-notes 

 were in evidence, particularly those of the Song Sparrow, the Baltimore Oriole, 

 the yuk, yuk, yuk, of the Flicker, the noisy chattering of the English Sparrow, 

 and occasionally the loud call of the male Ring-necked Pheasant. 



As I often had heard that the Blue Jay mimicked the songs of other birds, 

 and as this bird used the Blue Jay's notes more often than those of the other 

 birds, I was inclined to believe that I had met another unusual Blue Jay. 

 With some difficulty (for the bird moved at my approach from tree to tree) I 

 got between him and the sun, which was at that time very near the horizon 

 and discovered that I was being entertained by a real Mockingbird. 



A few days later I visited the Arboretum and saw him near the top of a 

 large white oak tree. Later that day he was on the ground, evidently feeding 

 on insects. He seemed more willing to be approached than he was on the even- 

 ing when I first made his acquaintance, for I was able to get within a few 

 yards of him. 



Almost every time when I have visited the Arboretum during the past six 

 years he has been very much in evidence. He keeps, for the most part, in the 

 vicinity of the small ponds and along the road leading to the Jamaica Plain 

 entrance, although he wanders very much beyond these limits at times. Many 

 of the followers of the Arboretum birds are of the opinion that he forsakes his 

 usual haunts during the months of July and August each year. Such is not 

 the case, however, for I have seen him several times during each of these 

 months, in the years of 1918 and 1919, and once or twice during July and 

 August of 1920. On nearly all of these occasions he has poured forth his usual 



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