SONG-BIRDS. Mockingbird 



Song : Natural love-song, a rich, dreamy melody. "Mocking" song 

 distinctly different, an imitation of the notes of all the 

 birds of field, forest, and garden broken into fragments. 



Season : A chance visitor, under which circumstances it is a summer 

 resident. 



Breeds : All through the South, and casually as far north as Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Nest: Loosely made of leaves and grass, rags, feathers, etc., bulky 

 and poorly constructed, never far from the ground. 



Eggs : 4-6, bluish green, heavily spattered with shades of brown. 



Range : United States south into Mexico. Rare from New Jersey, the 

 Valley of the Ohio, Colorado, and California northward. 



The Mockingbird, commonly known in this part of the 

 country as a cage pet only, does not properly belong among 

 the birds of the Middle or Eastern States, but as there are 

 many records of its nesting in these latitudes, and as it is a 

 conspicuous and interesting bird, it is safe to include it. 



Escaped individuals are often seen in our city parks, one 

 having lived in Central Park, New York, late into the 

 winter of 1892-93, a season which is remembered as being 

 very cold and stormy. Venturous pairs of Mockers have 

 reared their young as far north as Arlington, near Boston, 

 and they are noted as " rare summer visitants, occasionally 

 breeding, particularly in the Connecticut Valley," by Dr. 

 J. A. Allen. Stratford, Conn., also has one breeding-record 

 of long standing. 



The Mockingbird is very valiant in the care of its young, 

 and particularly winning and sociable in its relations with 

 man, which friendliness is illy rewarded by the theft of its 

 nestlings, that they may be sold at home and abroad. In 

 addition to this, all through the South these birds are wan- 

 tonly shot by man and boy because they consume berries 

 and small fruits. 



As a cage bird it retains its nocturnal habits, often sing- 

 ing and fluttering in the middle of the night ; it also shows 

 many intelligent traits and marked preferences for certain 

 individuals. 



The power of song varies greatly in different individuals, 

 some become vocal jugglers, and others retain many of their 



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