52 BIRDS 



again from the Gulf states to Panama. If one nest should 

 be disturbed in May or June, when the birds are raising 

 their families, all the catbird neighbors join in the outcry 

 of mews and cat-calls. Should a disaster happen to the 

 parents, the orphans will receive food and care from some 

 devoted foster-mother until they are able to fly. . 



The Mocking-bird 



Length — 9 to 10 inches. About the size of the robin. 

 Male and Female — Gray above; wings and wedge-shaped 



tail brownish; upper wing feathers tipped with white; 



outer tail quills white, conspicuous in flight; chin white; 



underneath light gray, shading to whitish. 

 Range — ^Peculiar to torrid and temperate zones of two 



Americas. 

 Migrations — No fixed migrations; usually resident where 



seen. 



Ever alert, on the qui vive, the mocking-bird can no more 

 suppress the music within him, night or day, than he can 

 keep his slim, neat, graceful, nervous, high-strung body at 

 rest. From his restlessness alone you might suspect he is 

 the cousin of the catbird and brown thrasher and is closely 

 related to the wrens. Flitting from perch to perch (flut- 

 tering is one of his chief amusements even in a cage) ; taking 

 short flights from tree to tree, and so displaying the white 

 signals on his wings and tail; hopping lightly, swiftly, grace- 

 fully, over the ground; bounding into the air, or the next 

 minute shooting his ashy gray body far across the garden 

 and leaving a wake of rippling music behind as he flies, he 



