The Western Mockingbird 
cratic) indignation. The Audubonites are incorrigible, and—you are 
in the minority. Possibly the birds have something to say to you in 
the quiet midnight watches, which you ought to hear. 
********** “Lo, this tearful night, 
Methinks I see thee, fresh from death's despite, 
Perched in a palm grove wild with pantomime 
O'er blissful companies couched in shady thyme. 
Metliinks I hear thy silver whistlings bright 
Mix with the mighty discourse of the wise, 
Till broad Beethoven, deaf no more, and Keats, 
'Midst of much talk, uplift their smiling eyes, 
And mark the music of thy wood conceits, 
And halfway pause on some large courteous word, 
And call thee 'Brother,' 0 thou heavenly bird!" 
But the Mockingbird is, after all, very “human.” We shall not 
leave him in Heaven, even for the space of this page; nor shall we hasten 
to deify him without having first examined the feet of clay. Even in the 
utterance of song he is something of a wag, not to mention a buffoon; 
while the elsewhere noble instinct of solicitude for young has in the 
Mockingbird degenerated into an exaggeration of petulance, which 
would be repulsive, were it not so entertaining and harmless. 
To speak of the buffoonery first: It is well known how the Mocker 
plays the fool whenever his lady love appears. Though he flutters 
up to her with drooping wings, his flattery is mingled with intentional 
bombast, and she cries yaa yaa in the same mocking tone with which 
a girl in pigtails greets an awkward brother: “Yaa, Mr. Smarty, why 
don't you stand up and fall over?” It is fair enough, of course, that 
music should enter a bird’s feet, as it does a man’s; but when the Mocker 
attempts to dance, he invites ridicule rather than respect. His heart 
interferes with his heels, until one cries in derision, “Softy, softy!” 
"Los Colibris, June 24, 1915: A Mocker singing before me on 
the cross-piece of a telegraph pole is leaping every now and then into 
the air to emphasize his ecstasy. The wings are fluttered slowly, re¬ 
vealing to the full their white areas; and the tail with its white border 
is displayed to the utmost. Singing is not interrupted, and as the 
bird moves off on a level through the air, he minces or drags with rakish 
affectation. Yet he is ever, to my mind, a somewhat serious fool, and 
he never achieves either the acrobatic distinction or the clownish abase¬ 
ment of the Western Chat.” 
“Los Colibris, September 22, 1912: There is such a thing as too 
