Bird SUidy 97 



11. Give instances of the parents' devotion to the young birds. 



12. Have you seen two mockingbirds dancing before each other just 

 before the nesting season ? 



13. In the spring have you heard a mocker sing while mounting from 

 the lower to the upper branches of a tree and then after pouring forth his 

 best song fall backward with a sweet, gurgling song as if intoxicated with 

 his music ? 



14. How many broods does a pair of mockers raise during one season? 

 How does the color of the breast of the young differ from that of the 

 parent ? 



15. How does the father bird protect the nestlings from other birds, 

 cats and snakes? 



16. Does the mocker select certain places for his own hunting grounds 

 and drive off other mockers w-hich trespass? 



17. Describe the colors of the mockingbird as follows : Beak, head, 

 back, tail, wings, throat, breast, under parts and feet. 



18. What is the natural food of the mockingbirds and how do they 

 benefit the farmer? How does the mocker act when attacking a ground 

 beetle? 



19. Have you seen mockingbirds frighten other birds by imitating 

 the cry of a hawk? Have you seen them play other kinds of tricks? 



20. Write a little story which shall include your ovim observations on 

 the ways of pet mockingbirds which j'ou have known. 



Supplementary reading — True Bird Stories, Miller, p. 142; Bob, by 

 Sidney Lanier; Second Book of Birds, Miller, p. 34; Birds of Song and 

 Story, Grinnell, p. 29; Stories About Birds, Kirby, p. 94. 



"Soft and low the song began: I scarcely caught it as it ran 

 Through the melancholy trill of the plaintive ivhip-poor-will. 

 Through the ringdove's gentle wail, chattering jay and whistling quail. 

 Sparrow's twitter, catbird's cry, redbird's whistle, robin's sigh; 

 Blackbird, bluebird, swallow, lark, each his native note might mark. 



Oft he tried the lesson o'er, each time louder than before; 

 Burst at length the finished song, loud and clear it poured along; 

 All the choir in silence heard, hushed before this wondrous bird. 

 All transported and amazed, scarcely breathing, long I gazed. 

 Now it reached the loudest swell; lower, lower, now it fell, — 

 Lower, lower, lower still, scarce it sounded o'er the rill." 



— ^Joseph Rodman Drake. 



