202 Bird - Lore 



except in the early spring. A Flicker quietly pluming himself on the adjoining 

 panel to the left of the nest, caused them little anxiety; though I observed they 

 now began entering the cedar on the right instead of the left. The matter became 

 really serious, however, when another Flicker appeared on the scene, and took 

 his position on the right. A Mocker mounted a post between the new comer 

 and the nest, and mildly scolded him, The Flicker, who is a humorous bird 

 as well as a goodnatured one, seemed to enjoy his embarrassment. He 

 moved down to the post, and hopping round it until he faced the Mocker, play- 

 fully bantered him. Apparently realizing his ridiculous position, after a mo- 

 ment the Mocker disappeared in the cedar, and the Flickers flew away to a nearby 

 telegraph post, where they had a nest just four feet above that of a Red-headed 

 Woodpecker. Once a Wood Pewee, who had her dainty little lichen-covered 

 nest in a post-oak across the road, attacked a Blue Jay and drove him over 

 to the neighborhood of the Mockingbirds, who, making him the single exception 

 to their quiet bearing, furiously chased him back. 



Like all poetic natures the Mockingbird is a creature of intense emotions, 

 and the grace and enthusiasm with which he gives them expression is charming. 

 As I watched the nest on the afternoon of the seventh, I witnessed a beautiful 

 scene. The female was standing very quietly on the fence by the nest, looking 

 wistful and pensive. I could not guess the cause. Presently the male appeared. 

 Instantly she was all animation. As he came floating in, she flew out to meet 

 him — not far, perhaps three or four feet — and then, in a flutter of delight, she 

 moved backward with him to the fence. Perhaps she was telling him that she 

 had given the last finishing touches to their nest. 



The next morning I heard him singing on the telegraph wire, and when 

 I went to the nest I found she had laid in it a little greenish blue egg, speckled 

 with brown; and each succeeding day she laid another, until there were four. 

 And how jealously they guarded them! One or the other was constantly on 

 the lookout. The male spent much of his time in song, but he never sang near 

 the nest, though it was seldom out of his sight. The female was its special guard- 

 ian. If one approached the nest, instantly she appeared and anxiously questioned 

 his movements with her bright, intelligent eyes. I do not think she regarded me 

 as an enemy, though I daily examined her eggs and young, as I have done in 

 other nests, to contradict in my own experience the old myth, which some people 

 still believe, that the Mockingbird will destroy her eggs, or poison her young, 

 if handled in the nest. Her nest was midway on the line of travel between the 

 telegraph pole of the Flicker and Red-headed Woodpecker and the woodlawn 

 by the house. In passing they often halted on the fence near it. In such cases, 

 she promptly placed herself between the intruder and the nest. When a black 

 cat passed up the road, there was real cause for anxiety; but she did not attack 

 him, as we have been taught she would. She quietly followed him along the fence 

 until he had passed the nest. By the time they had reached it, in some way a hue 

 and cry had been raised, and a multitude of birds, Bronzed Grackles, English 



