The Mockingbird. 



BY C. S. BKIMLEY, EALEIGH, N. C. 



The Mocker has always been one of my fa- 

 vorite birds since the first time we became mu- 

 tually acquainted; his courage, conspicuous 

 appearance and lively song all combining with 

 his distinguished manners to make a favorable 

 impression on strangers. 



The Mockers have only just arrived from the 

 South, but have already settled down to their 

 old ways and can be seen in all their accus- 

 tomed haunts. The Mocker in this part of the 

 world prefers the society of man — I presume 

 the woods make him feel lonesome, as he is 

 never found there — and wherever there is a 

 house there also is a pair or two of Mockers 

 and what follows, as a matter of course, a good 

 deal of noisy bird music as well. 



As a singer the Mocker is unequalled, al- 

 though considered by many as a mere piratical 

 imitator of other birds, he always seems to me 



to stamp his own trade mark on his adaptations 

 and besides he quite as often indulges in his 

 own genuine song which certainly is no Imita- 

 tion of any other bird. 



In his breeding habits he is quite exemplary; 

 he begins to raise one family in May and in 

 July his second or third are introduced to the 

 world. He builds a bulky nest of small twigs 

 with most anything else thrown in to help out, 

 strings, rags, wire, grass, etc., generally choos- 

 ing a small tree or bush to place his domicile in. 



While his family are being raised, he and his 

 wife are very jealous of any interference and 

 speedily put to flight any hawk, cat, dog or 

 other suspicious character found in the neigh- 

 borhood, not only making the welkin ring with 

 their loud remonstrances but enforcing said re- 

 monstrances with sundry vicious pecks which 

 cause many an unsuspecting dog to flee howl- 

 ing from the vicinity of their nest. 



When November comes most of the Mockers 

 leave us, a few, however, remaining through 

 the winter, chiefly in thickets, but they seem 

 pretty lonesome and forlorn and do not sing 

 much unless an unusually fine day is sent us by 

 the weather bureau. 



One word about the Mocker's imitations : 

 some of them seem mere adaptations, others 

 again are exact reproductions of the bird's 

 notes ; he can fool the unsuspecting on Kill- 

 deer, and imitate the Brown-headed Nuthatch 

 so well that if he only stayed in the right local- 

 ity he would get away with me every time, and 

 so with a good many others, but he usually 

 gives himself away by keeping straight ahead 

 with his song and blending some half a dozen 

 other bird's notes with it. 



One habit of the Mocker which is pleasing or 

 not, according to circumstances, is his way of 

 singing all night (and all day too) when the 

 weather gets hot. His song is very pleasant if 

 you don't want to sleep, but a Mocker just out- 

 side an open window maizes more racket than is 

 desirable at night. 



o.&o. XIII. Aug. i88a.jan^//r. 



A Collect ine Trip in T'exae. 

 G. B. Benners, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Mimus polyglottus, Mockingbird. It seemed 

 as though every tree, every bush, and every 

 plant a foot high, contained a bird or a nest of 

 this species. From Arkansas to the Rio Grande 

 I found them in the greatest abundance, and 

 was often deceived by the power they possess 

 of imitating the notes of other birds. I have 

 heard them give to pei-fection the call of the 

 Chaparral Cock, {Geococoyx calif nrnianus) and 

 I remember shooting a mockingbird in a dense 

 thicket by mistake for a Scissor-tailed Flycatch- 

 er, (Milvulus forflcatus), as I could not see the 

 bird, and it gave the exact chucJc, chuck, of that 

 Flycatcher. 



I found their nests in all positions ; in live 

 oaks, ten or twelve feet from the ground ; in a 

 chaparral bush, at a height of five or six feet; 

 and in small shrubs only a few inches from the 

 grass. They wore all built of the same mate- 

 Piais — small sticks and roots, with a lining of 

 dried grass, and resembled that of the Brown 

 Thrasher, (Harporhynchiis rufus). The eggs 

 diftered very much in color, running from a 

 dark green ground, with large chestnut blotch- 

 es, to a very light green, covered with small 

 red specks. One set I found were light blue, 

 with only a few brown spots at the larger end. 



O.&O. XII. Apr. 1887. p V^. 



