THE MOCKING-BIRD. 87 



In the spring you may track the mockers to 

 any bush or tree in which they are building their 

 nest. Not by the print of their feet in mud, by 

 any means, for mockers do not walk in the mud, 

 nor have anything to do with mud at nesting- 

 time, like the robins and swallows. We track them 

 by the white twine they drop from their beaks as 

 they go to the nest. If they get a piece too long, 

 it tangles in the shrubbery, and is left there. 

 The mocker's nest is begun with sticks or coarse 

 straws and finished with twine or soft roots and 

 grasses. We place strings all about for them in 

 our garden, which they learn to expect. But we 

 cannot induce them to take colored twine. They 

 will use only white, just as the towhee will use 

 only white rags. The reason for this is explained 

 in the chapter on the towhee. 



Two pairs of mockers have nested in our 

 grounds for several years. They are with us 

 summer and winter; in winter, because we do not 

 forget to set the garden-table. 



Young mockers will not remain in the nest 

 longer than they can see over the brim. They 

 climb out, and drop in a helpless way to the 

 ground. Then they begin to cry, and that tells 

 all the cats and bad boys and the good little 

 girls in the neighborhood. The cats catch what 



