About the House. 



25 



the outer tail feather, most of the next, and half of the third is white. The 

 eyes are yellowish green or grayish white. The young are similar to the 

 adults and both sexes are alike. The birds are from ten to eleven inches 

 long. They are found throughout the Southern United States, where they 

 are resident. From Maryland northward to Massachusetts, they are rare or 

 casual. In the interior they are found regularly as far north as Southern 

 Ohio and Colorado. They breed throughout their range. 



In the South the orange trees form favorite places for nesting, and 

 water oaks and bushes particularly about houses are often chosen to build in. 

 A rather loose nest of coarse twigs and rootlets lined with fine grasses, cotton, 

 feathers, and the like contains from three to six pale greenish blue eggs, 

 sometimes almost white or pale buff in ground color, heavily spotted with 



MOCKINGBIRD. 



reddish brown at th§ larger end. They are nearly an inch long, and a little 

 less than three quarters of an inch in the other diameter. ^ 



So much has been written in celebration of this songster's voice, that to 

 eulogize him further is beyond my power. The song is wonderfully varied, 

 and the musician is tireless, often singing throughout the moonlight, night 

 and only resting during the more heated hours of sunlight. Like the Cat- 

 bird the Mockingbird shows sympathy with his kind. One that I reared in 

 Arizona, when six weeks old assumed the care of two other very young 

 Mockingbirds and a young Oriole, that were placed in the cage with him. 



