MOCKIN^G BIRD. 
89 
fg here he appeared almost half domesticated, 
cedars and among the thickets of 
feirf^ that lined the roads, n hile I passed within a 
Slo around the pl.anter’s door, and hopping 
jjgJ'S’ the shingles. During the month of February, I 
2d * . heard a solitary one singing ; hut on the 
n,. March, in the neighbourhood of Savannah, 
®>nnbe > n 
gg “ers of them were heard on eveiy hand, vying in 
•Wat' Other, and with the bronii thrush, 
.’"{T the whole woods vocal with their melody. 
tKe"i'’ considerably advanced; and 
0 thermometer ranging between 70 and 78 degrees, 
"lo 'V^'^’^hig at New York, on the 22d of the same 
^yj |th, I found many parts of the country still covered 
k snow, and the streets piled with ice to the height 
•tioi-'* *het ; while neither the brown thrush, nor 
Fy king bird were observed, even in the lower parts of 
^iisylvania, until the 20th of April. 
t() I '*■' l'*’*cise time at which the mocking bird begins 
yij.kjhd Ills nest, varies according to the latitude in 
*oin' ' resides. In the lower parts of Georgia, he 
Vjy -k’^i'Ces building early in April; hut in Fennsyl- 
rarely before the lOtli of May; and in 
^nd the States of New England, 
and 
still 
New 
later. 
®ne particnlar situations to which he gives the 
tp^l !’*'®nce. A solitary thorn bush ; an almost impene- 
f Ihicket; an oraiigm tree, ccd.ar, or holly bush, 
gfp p''Oiirite spots, and frequently soletrted. It is no 
to i' ' ®h,iection with him that these happen, sometimes, 
to kear the farm, or mansion-house : always ready 
he ^‘k'ld, but never over anxious to conceal, his nest, 
li 0 | '’^'’.7 often builds within a small distance of the 
fare]*' ’ unfrequently in a pear or ap|)Ie tree ; 
the ^ k greater height than six or seven teet from 
The nest varies a little with ditl'erent 
Siijj'j'l kals, aeimrding to the couveniomy of collecting 
bel'oy k materials. A very complete one is now lying 
iPi,,.. k kie, and is compo.sed of the following' substances, 
toog ’ f inantity of dry twigs and sticks, then w ithered 
ot Weeds, of the preceding year, intermixed with 
