HAUNTS OF THE MOCKING-BIRD. 17 



In Florida and in the valley of the Alabama, 

 I observed the mocking-bird assuming a famil- 

 iarity with man very closely approaching volun- 

 tary domestication. A pair had their nest in 

 a small vine-covered peach-tree close to the 

 window of a room for some weeks occupied by 

 me. They seemed not in the least disturbed 

 when I boldly watched them, though occasion- 

 ally the male bird was inclined to scold if I 

 raised the window. Every morning, just at 

 the peep of dawn, the singing began, and was 

 kept up at intervals all day. The house was 

 a mere cabin with unchinked cracks. All out- 

 door sounds came in freely. The Suwanee 

 River, made famous by the Old Folks at 

 Home, rippled near, and the heavy perfume of 

 magnolia flowers filled the air. My vigorous 

 exercise in the woods and fields by day, which 

 was sometimes continued far into the night, 

 made me sleep soundly, but very often I was 

 aroused sufficiently to be aware of a nocturne, 

 all the sweeter to my half-dreaming sense on 

 account of its plaintive and desultory render- 

 ing. 



In the neighborhood of Thomasville, Geor- 

 gia, a mocking-bird's nest, built in a pear- 

 tree, was close to a kitchen door, where ser- 

 vants were all day passing in and out within 

 ten or twelve feet of the sitting bird. The 

 brood was hatched, and the young taken by a 

 negro and sold to a New York tourist for 

 twenty dollars. The birds tore up their nest 

 as soon as it was robbed, and appeared greatly 

 excited for a few days ; but one morning the 

 singing began again, and soon after a new 

 nest was built a little higher up in the same 

 tree. 



