36 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
stores in New York have hundreds of them for 
sale, birds so young that they still wear the 
speckled bibs of baby-days. Many of them die, 
and so every year they are growing more rare. 
A lady wrote me the story of a young mock- 
ingbird, whose mother saved it from a cage. The — 
little fellow was just out of the nest, and could 
not fly far, and a young man thought he would 
catch him and take him to his sister; but the 
mother bird wished to save him from such a 
fate. 
When the man went toward the youngster on 
the ground, the mother flew down, seized him, 
lifted him up, and flew away with him. She 
carried him a little way and then let go. He 
flew as far as he could, but soon came to the 
ground again. Then the man started for him. 
Again the anxious mother flew down and lifted 
him into the air, and again he flew a little and fell 
to the ground. So it went on for some time, till 
the young man began to feel ashamed of himself. 
Then he took up the cage and went away, leav- 
ing’ the little one to his mother’s care. 
The mockingbird is one of our most knowing 
birds, and when one is tamed and free in a house, 
he is very amusing. He is as full of fun asa 
catbird, and as funny to watch. A true story 
was told in one of the papers, of a captive who 
