HAUNTS OF THE MOCKING-BIRD. 17 
In Florida and in the valley of the Alabama, 
Y observed the mocking-bird assuming a famil- 
iarity with man very closely approaching volun- 
tary domestication. A pair had their nest in 
a small vine-covered peach-tree close to the 
window of a room for some weeks occupied by 
me. They seemed not in the least disturbed 
when I boldly watched them, though occasion- 
ally the male bird was inclined to scold if I 
raised the window. Every morning, just at 
the peep of dawn, the singing began, and was 
kept up at intervals all day. The house was 
a mere cabin with unchinked cracks. All out- 
door sounds came in freely. The Suwanee 
River, made famous by the Old Folks at 
flome, rippled near, and the heavy perfume of 
magnolia flowers filled the air. My vigorous 
exercise in the woods and fields by day, which 
was sometimes continued far into the night, 
made me sleep soundly, but very often I was 
aroused sufficiently to be aware of a nocturne, 
all the sweeter to my half-dreaming sense on 
account of its. plaintive and desultory render- 
ing. 
In the neighborhood of Thomasville, Geor- 
gia, a mocking-bird’s nest, built in a pear- 
tree, was close to a kitchen door, where ser- 
vants were all day passing in and out within 
ten or twelve feet of the sitting bird. The 
brood was hatched, and the young taken by a 
negro and sold to a New York tourist for 
twenty dollars. The birds tore up their nest 
as soon as it was robbed, and appeared greatly 
excited for a few days; but one morning the 
singing began again, and soon after a new 
nest was built a little higher up in the same 
Pree: 
2 
