20 MY REAL ESTATE. 



mocking-bird would be better esteemed if 

 he were to drop that favorite feline call of 

 his. But this is his bit of originality (imi- 

 tative, like the maple-leaved viburnum's), 

 and perhaps, if justice were done, it would 

 be put down to his credit rather than made 

 an occasion of ill-will. 



Once during the afternoon a company of 

 chickadees happened in upon me ; and, tak- 

 ing my cue from the newspaper folk, I im- 

 mediately essayed an interview. My imi- 

 tation of their conversational notes was 

 hardly begun before one of the birds flew 

 toward me, and, alighting near by, pro- 

 ceeded to answer my calls with a mimicry 

 so exact, as fairly to be startling. To all 

 appearance the quick - witted fellow had 

 taken the game into his own hands. In- 

 stead of my deceiving him, he would prob- 

 ably go back and entertain his associates 

 with amusing accounts of how cleverly he 

 had fooled a stranger, out yonder in the 

 bushes. 



It would have seemed a graceful and ap- 

 propriate acknowledgment of my rightful 

 ownership of the land on which the cat- 

 bird and the titmice were foraging, had 



