Mbere tbe /iDocfting^bfrJ) Sfngs 



negro patois it is zozo, a corruption of 

 oiseau ; but moqueur is used even in the 

 "gumbo," when the mocking-bird must 

 be particularly distinguished from other 

 small birds. I heard a little negro sing- 

 ing: 



Poc un moqueur, poc un geai, 

 Poc un zozo po' I'pate ; 



which I took to mean : 



Not a mocker, not a jay. 

 Not a little bird for a pie. 



It is said that a superstition among the 

 Creoles of color keeps them from killing 

 the mocking-bird, which they believe to 

 be a messenger from the happy land. I 

 might place more faith in the story had I 

 not often seen a hulking half-breed return- 

 ing from the woods with his old blunder- 

 buss on his shoulder, and in his hand a 

 bunch of dead robins and moqueurs. This 

 same blunderbuss is fast destroying the 

 singing-birds of the South, and threatens 

 to rob the dreamy woods of our Creole 

 74 



