no MOCKING BIRD. 



take pleasure in contributing to their safety. The dew-berries from the 

 fiekls, and many kinds of fruit from the gardens, mixed with insects, sup- 

 ply the young as well as the parents with food. The brood is soon seen 

 emero-ing from the nest, and in another fortnight, being now able to fly 

 with vigour, and to provide for themselves, they leave the parent birds, 

 as many other species do. 



The above account does not contain all that I wish you to know of 

 the habits of this remarkable songster ; so, I shall shift the scene to the 

 woods and wilds, where we shall exaixiine it more particularly. 



The Mocking Bird remains in Louisiana the whole year. I have ob- 

 served with astonishment, that towards the end of October, when those 

 which had gone to the Eastern States, some as far as Boston, have re- 

 turned, they are instantly known by the " southrons," who attack them 

 on all occasions. I have ascertained this by observing the greater shy- 

 ness exhibited by the strangers for weeks after their arrival. This shy- 

 ness, however, is shortly over, as well as the animosity displayed by the 

 resident birds, and during the winter there exists a great appearance of 

 sociality among the united tribes. 



In the beginning of April, sometimes a fortnight earlier, the Mock- 

 ing Birds pair, and construct their nests. In some instances they are so 

 careless as to place the nest between the rails of a fence directly by the 

 road. I have frequently found it in such places, or in the fields, as well 

 as in briars, but always so easily discoverable that any person desirous of 

 procuring one, might do so in a very short time. It is coarsely con- 

 structed on the outside, being there composed of dried sticks of briars, 

 withered leaves of trees, and grasses, mixed with wool. Internally it is 

 finished with fibrous roots disposed in a circular form, but carelessly ar- 

 ranged. The female lays from four to six eggs the first time, four or 

 five the next, and when there is a third brood, which is sometimes the 

 case, seldom more than three, of which I have rarely found more than 

 two hatched. The eggs are of a short oval form, light green, blotched 

 and spotted with umber. The young of the last brood not being able to 

 support themselves until late in the season, when many of the berries and 

 insects have become scarce, are stunted in growth ; — a cii-cumstance which 

 has induced some persons to imagine the existence in the United States of 

 two species of Mocking Bird, a larger and a smaller. This, however, in 

 as far as my observation goes, is not correct. The first brood is fre- 

 quently brought to the bird-market in New Orleans as early as the middle 



