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Bird - Lore 



Cardinal, as this dainty little lady condescends to sing only in the spring, and 

 not then, except when alone and her surroundings perfectly quiet. Her 

 song is very low and sweet, but in exact imitation of the far-reaching flute- 

 like notes of her handsome mate. Then, there is that little clown, the 

 Florida Blue Jay, with his merry Kris-krinkle ; how many bird students 

 have been so fortunate as to hear the charming song this little fellow 

 sometimes warbles, in between naps, on warm drowsy afternoons in spring ? 



None of these feathered 

 friends has ever built nests 

 on our trees, the Mocking- 

 birds and Cardinals preferring 

 orange groves and Cherokee 



rose bushes, and the 

 others the tangled 

 growth of the hum- 

 mocks ; but nearly all 

 of them brought their 

 young families to us 

 last May, as soon as 

 they could fly. The 

 first to appear was 

 that of our pet 

 Mocking-birds, con- 

 sisting of the two 

 old birds and four young. The father of this family has made his home, 

 during the past three winters, on an oak that is very near my bedroom 

 windows, leaving us for only a short time in the spring, during the nest- 

 ing season. Many a skirmish have I witnessed between him and the Blue 

 Jays, when the latter have gone to his tree on chilly winter mornings, to 

 catch the first warm rays of the rising sun; and I have noticed that in 

 these battles, the Mocking-bird was invariably victorious, often driving 

 away as many as four Blue Jays at one time. Like all Mocking-birds, he 



FLORIDA CARDINALS 

 Upper figure, male; lower figure, female 



