184 SOME TENNESSEE BIRD NOTES. 



more, without being exactly a bird of the 

 forest or the wilderness, is instinctively and 

 irreclaimably a recluse. It would be hard, 

 even among human beings, to find a nature 

 less touched with urbanity. In the mock- 

 ing-bird the elements are more happily 

 mingled. Not gregarious, intolerant of 

 rivalry, and, as far as creatures of his own 

 kind are concerned, a stickler for elbow- 

 room, — sharing with his brown relative in 

 that respect, — he is at the same time a 

 born citizen and neighbor ; as fond of gar- 

 dens and dooryard trees as the thrasher is 

 of scrublands and barberry bushes. " Man 

 delights me," he might say, " and woman 

 also." He likes to be listened to, it is 

 pretty certain; and possibly he is dimly 

 aware of the artistic value of appreciation, 

 without which no artist ever did his best. 

 Add to this endearing social quality the 

 splendor and freedom of the mocker's vocal 

 performances, multifarious, sensational, in- 

 comparable, by turns entrancing and amus- 

 ing, and it is easy to understand how he has 

 come to hold a place by himself in Southern 

 sentiment and literature. A city without 

 mocking-birds is only half Southern, though 



