2 



THE BAY STATE OOLOGIST. 



performance) but wh$n the breeding 

 season arrives everything is changed. 

 Then he is so full of music that he don't 

 lose a moment. I have whiled away 

 many an hour, watching "my" bird as 

 I call the one that nests at my door. 

 He will fly on the housetop and deliver 

 a few notes, then to an outbuilding, 

 singing as he flies, then perhaps to the 

 woods, and you hardly miss him until 

 he is back again to the tree where his 

 wife is incubating. Alighting on one of 

 the lower limbs he rises, half flying, half 

 hopping, until the top of the tree is 

 reached, then flying straight up five or 

 ten feet and fluttering back again. All 

 this time he is singing the notes of ev- 

 ery bird he ever heard. Sometimes, to 

 vary his tune he'll imitate the mewing 

 of a cat ; again he sets the old hen crazy 

 by imitating the cry of a chick in dis- 

 tress. It is a puzzle to me when he 

 eats, as this is kept up all day. Some- 

 times he sings until midnight, and oc- 

 casionally all night long. Like most 

 birds, the female does all the work 

 of nest-building, the male making 

 the noise ; but after the family comes he 

 is a model husband, and very little mu- 

 sic does he indulge in until the little 

 ones are able to care for themselves. 



The Mockingbird is not very partic- 

 ular as to a nesting site. He is a social 

 fellow and generally builds close to some 

 residence, that is in the country, the 

 only exception to this rule being the 

 nests found on the prairies. They nev- 

 er build in the woods remote from dwel- 

 lings, neither do they build close to a 

 deserted dwelling. 



The nest is a bulky structure, the 

 ground work being a platform of good 

 sized twigs. On this, the nest proper 

 is built out of weeds, small twigs and 

 grasses ; lined with fine, brown rootlets. 

 The nests are found in almost every po- 

 sition ; sometimes in a small bush not 

 more than six or eight inches above the 

 ground j sometimes in trees fifty feet 

 up ; then again in brush piles, or on the 

 corners of a rail fence, and I even found 



a nest in a hollow stub from which I 

 had once taken a set of eggs of the Tex- 

 an Screech 0.vl. The number of eggs 

 in a set is generally four or five. Sets 

 of three and six are also found, but not. 

 often. The eggs vary a gre-U deal in 

 size and markings. The typical egg is 

 of a pale greenish-blue, mottled with 

 spots, specks and blotches of yellowish 

 and dark brown, and lilac or purplish 

 shell markings. These markings and 

 spots are often confluent at the larger 

 end, forming a wreath. Some eggs are 

 entirely covered with brown at the larger 

 end, and again others are found where 

 the pale brown is distributed over the 

 whole egg in light and darker shades, 

 entirely concealing the ground color. 

 The handsomest eggs, I find, however, 

 are of a bright greenish blue, plentifully 

 speckled with chocolate brown and the 

 purplish shell markings. A correspond- 

 ent to whom I sent a set of eggs of the 

 last variety wrote me : "I did not think 

 that the Mockingbird laid such beauti- 

 ful eggs. Average size of eggs .97X.74. 



I've given a long account of the 

 "Mocker" for two reasons i. e. because 

 he deserves it, and also for the reason 

 that several articles lately appearing in 

 various magazines are simply caricatures 

 of the bird and its habits, and were 

 probably written by persons who have 

 had little opportunity to study the bird 

 in its uncaged state. Next on the list 

 conies 



No. 22, Bluebird, (Sialia Sialis.) 



This species like the last is resident 

 here. It is not common during the 

 breeding season, but he is reinforced 

 during the winter by migrants from the 

 North, at which time it is to be found 

 associating with some of the warblers 

 and sparrows in the "Bottoms." Their 

 pleasing warble is to be heard at all 

 times of the year, especially during 

 pleasant days in the latter part of win - 

 ter. Nidification commences about 

 the first of March. The earliest nes t 

 with eggs found March 10, 1884. 



