THE MOCKINGBIRD. 
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Swallow, White-breasted Nuthatch, Wood Pewee, Baltimore Oriole, Parrot, 
Canary, and Rooster; besides these, numerous “baby calls” not quite clear. 
Among his many bird-store reminiscences I made sure at one time that the 
monkeys were quarreling in their cage. His torrent of borrowed songs was 
continually changing, like a kaleidoscope. I timed him once, and the tune was 
changed eighty-seven times in seven minutes. Of these I was able to recognize 
only fifty-eight as they flew—that of the Robin appearing twenty-two times. 
The bird not only sings for hours at a time during the day, but often well 
into the night, or, in the mating season, practically all night. According to Nehr- 
ling, the daylight hours are largely occupied with imitations and renditions of 
other masters, while during the night the song is almost entirely original, 
exhibiting the full compass of a poet’s emotions, but oftenest tender and sub- 
lime. Maurice Thompson has given us unrivalled descriptions of what he is 
pleased to call the “dropping song,” an ecstacy of the nuptial season, during 
which the male descends step by step an aerial staircase, measured off by the 
periods of his own passion during a perfect tempest of song. 
Mockingbirds are very domestic in their tastes, in the double sense of 
being both fond of their own home and of the haunts of men. With slight 
encouragement they will nest in nearby shrubbery, or even in clinging vines or 
upon the porch rails of a house. ‘Their presence is a benediction to a farm- 
yard, both for the excellent music they discourse, and for the spirited defense 
which the male makes against Hawks and other intruders. 
The occurrence of the Mockingbird in Ohio is quite irregular. It has 
been recorded as a transient in the northern part of the state, but its appearance 
anywhere in the northern two-thirds is matter of surprise. Rey. W. F. Hen- 
ninger reports it as very rare in the region of the lower Scioto. Messrs. Arrick 
and Morris of McConnelsville reported a little colony of them breeding near 
that place in the summer of 1896. During January of this year the same gen- 
tlemen sent me a specimen which had been taken on the 25th of that month 
from a federated troop of winter birds of the usual sorts. ‘There was two 
inches of snow upon the ground at the time, but the Mocker was in excellent 
condition. 
