8 BY-WA YS AND BIRD- NO TES, 



as it is, the worst feature of such an appella- 

 tion is the idea of flippancy and ill-breeding 

 that it conveys. To "mock" is to imitate 

 with an ill-natured purpose, to jeer at, to ridi- 

 cule; it was for mocking that bad children 

 were made food for bears. Such a name 

 carries with it a shadow of something repel- 

 lant, and no poet can ever rescue it, as a 

 name, from its meaning and its eight harsh 

 consonants. It would indeed require some 

 centuries of romantic and charming associa- 

 tions to make of it a name by which to con- 

 jure, as in the case of the nightingale. The 

 bird, with almost any other name than mock- 

 ing-bird, would fare much better at the hands 

 of artists and poets, and might hope, if birds 

 may hope at all, finally to gain the meed of 

 praise it so richly deserves. 



In a beautiful little valley among the moun- 

 tains of North Georgia I first began to study 

 the mocking-bird in its wild state. It was not 

 a very common bird there, just rare enough to 

 keep one keenly interested in its habits. I 

 had great trouble in finding a nest. Many a 

 delightful tramp through the thorny thickets 

 and wild orchards of plum-trees ended in noth- 

 ing, before my eyes discovered the loose sticks 

 and matted midribs of leaves which usually 

 make up the songster's home. The haw-tree, 

 several varieties of which grow in the glades 

 of what is known as the Cherokee Region, is a 

 favorite nesting-place, and so is the honey- 

 locust tree, which is also much chosen by the 

 shrike or butcher-bird. There is so strong a 

 resemblance in colors and size between this 

 shrike and the mocking-bird that one is often 

 mistaken for the other by careless observers, 



