TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 93 



the young brood. The birds are 

 gathered when quite young and 

 fed in cages prepared of the reed 

 seen along some portions of our 

 river banks, and when full grown 

 they sell them to tourists and 

 others who generally pay a fancy 

 price for a good singer. In the 

 Mexican settlements, across the 

 Alazan Creek, hordes of Mexicans 

 could be seen in former years 

 preparing the attractive bird cages 

 and rearing the young — mostly 

 with cornmeal and egg and Mexican 

 pepper called "chili peppin," also 

 cooked potatoes, and ground maiz, 



etc., and often regular caravans 

 of Mexicans — men, women and 

 children, could be seen marching 

 to the hotels, etc., in search of a 

 buyer. The young as well as 

 the old birds are very fond of 

 raw meat and red Mexican pepper 

 and scraped raw meat with cooked 

 egg and. j)epper is a very wholesome 

 food for them. When reared from- 

 nestlings much care is needed in 

 keeping the cage perfectly clean 

 and always well provided with 

 fresh water. Neglect in this re- 

 spect has killed' many a, fine singer 

 and; unless the stated precautions 

 are ! not heeded it is a crirrie to 

 takfe young birds from the nest 

 and incarcerate them in a cage. 



The female mocking bird lays 

 three to five oval shaped light blu- 

 ish and chocolate spotted eggs, 

 in most instances though four eggs 

 are seen in the nest during breeding 

 time. Often these eggs are de- 

 stroyed by wild animals, especially 

 serpents and some peculiar birds 

 of prey, and snakes occasionally 

 devour the eggs with the entire 

 breeding bird. The photo herein 

 of a mocking bird's nest was espec- 

 ially prepared lately by the writer 

 for these pages, and it 

 shows the eggs plainly. These 

 eggs were of a bluish and slightly 

 reddish brown and chocolate dotted 

 color, and the entire nest which 



was not disturbed, was located 

 in a thorny bush with yellow 

 berries — a favorite breeding place 

 for our songster. 



As a rule the female, assisted 

 by the male companion, prepares 

 its nest in a well secluded thicket 

 of a bush or tree, and in the prairie 

 it prefers very thorny and densely 

 grown bushes with light yellow 

 green leaves and bearing yellow 

 or black berries. Often, however, 

 the nests can be encountered at 

 places without the least protection 

 but generally many feet above 

 ground. Some such nests are so 

 shrewdly built and hidden that 

 absolutely no nest can be seen. 

 Generally though, the male bird 

 is seen and heard flying and 

 wildly scream'jng around the hidden 

 nest place., Such a hidden nest 

 with four mocking bird- eggs is 

 the' one seen in this issue and 

 encountered' lately in the hilly 

 regions of the beautiful Leona 

 valley, near San Antonio, the 

 protecting branches and leaves 

 which entirely secluded the nest 

 having previously been held back 

 in order to have a full view 

 of the nest and its contents. 

 It is a fine and rare view showing 

 the spotted eggs very plainly. 



The fundairiental or main breed- 

 ing nest is generally : composed 

 of soft grass, fibers which, the bird 

 arjange^ in a circle to form the 

 basis of the nest; then comes a 

 layer of somewhat coarser material 

 and lastly the thorny branch 

 particles seen in the photo but, 

 somewhat blurred on account of 

 close focus. This mode of nest 

 building is typical of all mocking 

 birds wherever they build. 



Another photo shows a group of 

 prairie birds and our prairie queen 

 — the mocking bird — in a flying 

 position. In the rear, on a mes- 

 quite bush, is seen a wren and nest 

 with eggs, and a woodpecker. This 

 is quite a typical prairie bird scene 

 encountered often near the environ- 

 ments of our old historic San An- 

 tonio. 



