THE MOCKING BIRD. 



(^ HE Mocking Bird is regarded as 

 the chief of songsters, for in 

 addition to his remarkable 

 powers of imitation, he is 

 without a rival in variety of notes. 

 The Brown Thrasher is thought by 

 many to have a sweeter song, and one 

 equally vigorous, but there is a bold 

 brilliancy in the performance of the 

 Mocker that is peculiarly his own, and 

 which has made him par excellence 

 the forest extemporizer of vocal mel- 

 ody. About this of course there will 

 always be a difference of opinion, as 

 in the case of the human melodists. 



So well known are the habits and 

 characteristics of the Mocking Bird 

 that nearly all that could be written 

 about him would be but a repetition 

 of what has been previously said. 

 In Illinois, as in many other states, 

 its distribution is very irregular, its 

 absence from some localities which 

 seem in every way suited being very 

 difficult to account for. Thus, accord- 

 ing to "Birds of Illinois," while one or 

 two pairs breed in the outskirts of 

 Mount Carmel nearly every season, it 

 is nowhere in that vicinity a common 

 bird. A few miles further north, how- 

 ever, it has been found almost abund- 

 ant. On one occasion, during a three 

 mile drive from town, six males were 

 seen and heard singing along the road- 

 side. Mr. H. K. Coale says that he 

 saw a mocking bird in Stark county, 

 Indiana, sixty miles southeast of Chi- 

 cago, January i, 1884 ; that Mr. 

 Green Smith had met with it at Ken- 

 sington Station, Illinois, and that sev- 

 eral have been observed in the parks 

 and door-yards of Chicago. In the 

 extreme southern portion of the state 

 the species is abundant, and is resident 

 through the year. 



The Mocking Bird does not properly 

 belong among the birds of the middle 

 or eastern states, but as there are 



many records of its nesting in these 

 latitudes it is thought to be safe to 

 include it. Mrs. Osgood Wright states 

 that individuals have often been seen 

 in the city parks of the east, one hav- 

 ing lived in Central Park, New York 

 city, late into the winter, throughout 

 a cold and extreme season. They 

 have reared their young as far north 

 as Arlington, near Boston, where they 

 are noted, however, as rare summer 

 residents. Dr. J. A. Allen, editor ot The 

 Auk^ notes that they occasionally nest 

 in the Connecticut Valley. 



The Mocking Bird has a habit of 

 singing and fluttering in the middle of 

 the night, and in different individuals 

 the song varies, as is noted of many 

 birds, particularly canaries. The song 

 is a natural love song, a rich dreamy 

 melody. The mocking song is imita- 

 tive of the notes of all the birds of 

 field, forest, and garden, broken into 

 fragments. 



The Mocker's nest is loosely made 

 of leaves and grass, rags, feathers, etc., 

 plain and comfortable. It is never far 

 from the ground. The eggs are four 

 to six, bluish green, soattered with 

 shades of brown. 



Wilson's description of the Mocking 

 Bird's song will probably never be 

 surpassed : " With expanded wings and 

 tail glistening with white, and the 

 bouyant gayety of his action arresting 

 the eye, as his song does most irresist- 

 ably the ear, he sweeps around with 

 enthusiastic ecstacy, and mounts and 

 descends as his song swells or dies 

 away. And he often deceives the 

 sportsman, and sends him in search of 

 birds that are not perhaps within. miles 

 of him, but whose notes he exactly 

 imitates." 



Very useful is he, eating large spi- 

 ders and grasshoppers, and the des- 

 tructive cottonworm. 



