Mbere tbe /IDocF?lng*btrt) Sings 



shiftlessness proverbial of genius. The 

 work is cleverly done in a way, though 

 the sticks are flung together with a loose, 

 sketchy effect, as if the builder were over- 

 anxious to leave such prosy labor and get 

 back to his song-singing. The nest is 

 most often set in a crotch, or amid a 

 cluster of stiff twigs only a few feet from 

 the ground. The orange-tree seems to be 

 the favorite site for the home of the resi- 

 dent bird. Migrants build higher, as a 

 rule, and choose a situation well hidden 

 by foliage. The inner basket of the nest 

 is neatly lined and admirably fitted to the 

 bird's form. 



Although I cannot help associating the 

 mocking-bird with the far South and 

 French-Creole people, I have imagined that 

 the individuals which habitually venture 

 into Tennessee and Kentucky to nest are 

 of hardier fraitie and display a more coura- 

 geous disposition than those of the Gulf- 

 coast ; they are not, however, as good 

 singers. Along the well- watered valleys 

 of the Cumberland Mountains the birds 

 appear in April and May, and sing for a 

 91 



