66 



THE IRRIGATION AGE, 



land will be made for the purpose of buy- 

 ing such prize winners in the way of cattle 

 and horses as exhibited at the last Inter- 

 national Live Stock Show, and may be 

 subject to purchase. 



Besides being a woman of affairs, Mrs. 

 Grubb has another distinction. She was 

 the last person to pass out the gate of the 

 World's Columbian Exposition the night 

 the "show" closed. Mrs. Grubb estab- 

 lishes this distinction from the fact that 

 she was escorted out by a guard nearly an 

 hour after the grounds were supposed to 

 be vacated. She was "discovered" in a 

 secluded nook, where she had fallen into a 

 sleepless reverie while dreaming on the 

 beauties of the scenes so soon to be given 

 over to the hand of the destroyer. 



Mrs. Grubb was a Chicagoan for twenty 

 years before moving to Colorado. 



A MOCKING-BIRD FARM. 



Sounds funny, doesn't it? Yet it's not 

 so strange after all. There's a big lot of 

 birds of this variety in Tennessee, and 

 they have a habit of nestling and breeding 

 in the same locality year after year. 

 Hence the spots where they thus make 

 their headquarters are frequently spoken 

 of as "the place where the mocking-birds 

 are." And so it came about that the farm 

 where my friend, a milkman, lives is 

 known to many as " the mocking-bird 

 farm." 



Of this farm there is about 175 acres, 

 and a good part of it is glady hill land. It 

 is in the glades and the bushy woods that 

 the bird* nest year after year. 



Of course the owner does not pretend to 

 be conducting a bird farm exclusively. 

 His business is, as intimated, dairying, to 

 which is added small farming to some ex- 

 tent. But nevertheless, the mocking-birds 

 are a good source of revenue to him. He 

 is accustomed to the birds and their 

 habits, and knows well how to handle them 

 in captivity. He also is very careful t 



guard against their extinction in their 

 choosen nesting grounds. 



"The birds," said he, "usually have 

 four young to the nest, and when we find 

 a nest of the young we take but two of 

 them, leaving two for the old birds to 

 raise. Our land is "Posted," which pro- 

 hibits hunting, and saves the birds from 

 the hunters. This fact, coupled with the 

 way we take the young, accounts, I think, 

 for the way the birds stay with us year 

 after year." 



"How about the small boy ?" I queried. 



"Oh, we make him our partner in the 

 business. It's his business to hunt up the 

 nests, keep track of the young and advise 

 us when the young birds are about to take 

 flight. Then he brings in our share, leav- 

 ing two. as stated, for the parent bird. 

 Of course the boy gets his share of the 

 profits." 



"What are the birds worth when they 

 first come from the nest?" 



"About 50 cents each,' 1 replied my 

 friend of the milk wagon, "but we seldom 

 sell them that young. We usually keep 

 them until the singers, which are the 

 males, develop, and then sell the latter for 

 from three to five dollars each, and give 

 the females their liberty. The young that 

 we take are about half and half of each 

 sex." 



The Tennessee mocking-bird is a beauti- 

 ful singer, that has something of the 

 nightingale about it. for on warm moon- 

 light nights in the early part of the sum- 

 mer, while the female is sitting or nurs- 

 ing her young, the male then seeks a high 

 elevation, and pours out the joy and music 

 of its heart in beautiful song that adds 

 much to the glory of a summer's night in 

 "Dixie land." 



In addition I desire to say that 1 am 

 not interested in the milkman's mocking- 

 birds, and cannot agree to answer any cor- 

 respondence that this article may evoke in 

 connection with them. H. B. Geer, in 

 Ftirmers Voice. 



