COMMON MOCKING-BIRD. 189 



gone to the Eastern States, some as far as Boston, have returned, they are 

 instantly known by the "southrons," who attack them on all occasions. I 

 have ascertained this by observing the greater shyness exhibited by the 

 strangers for weeks after their arrival. This shyness, however, is shortly 

 over, as well as the animosity displayed by the resident birds, and during 

 the winter there exists a great appearance of sociality among the united 

 tribes. 



In the beginning of April, sometimes a fortnight earlier, the Mocking- 

 birds pair, and construct their nests. In some instances they are so careless 

 as to place the nest between the rails of a fence directly by the road. I have 

 frequently found it in such places, or in the fields, as well as in briars, but 

 always so easily discoverable that any person desirous of procuring one, 

 might do so in a very short time. It is coarsely constructed on the outside, 

 being there composed of dried sticks of briars, withered leaves of trees, and 

 grasses, mixed with wool. Internally it is finished with fibrous roots 

 disposed in a circular form, but carelessly arranged. The female lays from 

 four to six eggs the first time, four or five the next, and when there is a third 

 brood, which is sometimes the case, seldom more than three, of which I have 

 rarely found more than two hatched. The eggs are of a short oval form, 

 light green, blotched and spotted with umber. The young of the last brood 

 not being able to support themselves until late in the season, when many of 

 the berries and insects have become scarce, are stunted in growth; — a 

 circumstance which has induced some persons to imagine the existence in 

 the United States of two species of Common Mocking-bird, a larger and a 

 smaller. This, however, in as far as my observation goes, is not correct. 

 The first brood is frequently brought to the bird-market in New Orleans as 

 early as the middle of April. A little farther up the country, they are out 

 by the fifteenth of May. The second brood is hatched in July, and the third 

 in the latter part of September. 



The nearer you approach to the sea-shores, the more plentiful do you find 

 these birds. They are naturally fond of loose sands, and of districts scantily 

 furnished with .small trees, or patches of briars, and low bushes. 



During incubation, the female pays such precise attention to the position 

 in which she leaves her eggs, when she goes to a short distance for exercise 

 and refreshment, to pick up gravel, or roll herself in the dust, that, on her 

 return, should she find that any of them has been displaced, or touched by 

 the hand of man, she utters a low mournful note, at the sound of which the 

 male immediately joins her, and they are both seen to condole together. 

 Some people imagine that, on such occasions, the female abandons the nest; 

 but this idea is incorrect. On the contrary, she redoubles her assiduity and 

 care, and scarcely leaves the nest for a moment; nor is it until she has been 



Vol. II. 33 



