THE MOCKING BIKD 95 



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 by these self-appointed sentinels, and the 

 evil news of its approach is heralded faster than the winged 

 desperado can fly. 



If a mocking bird'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 about the lot, accidently tore the nest 

 from its position and the eggs were broken. The bird then 

 built in a small oak tree near by, 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 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 the female carrying twigs in among the 

 dagger shaped leaves of a Spanish bayonet plant. Here at 

 last she found a sure retreat and reared her young in 



