THE NATURALIST AND COLLECTOR 
of the Golden Eagle, well marked, and 
measured 7 feet 10 inches from tip to tip. 
Then starting for home, we reached 
the “camp” just after dark, tired and 
hungry, hut well pleased with our two 
days’ outing among the “foot-hills.” 
— J. D. Gorham. 
The Mockingbird. 
The mockingbird is a true Southern 
gentleman of the old school—except in 
hospitality, of which he has none in his 
nature—hot temper and all. He is an 
aristocrat, a feudal lord; the “pink” of 
neatness, but never showy in dress. 
Punctilios and dignified, yet very easy 
and graceful in his manners, he is lord 
of his manor and will fig'ht for every 
inch of his rights. 
He builds his nest, usually in a 
thicket of brambles, of weeds and small 
twigs and lined with hair or cotton. 
Usually four eggs are laid, sometimes 
five and rarely six. They have a grou nd 
color of pale greenish-blue or buff, 
being marked with spots of various 
shades of brown and chesnut. 
It is safe to say that a mockingbird 
lives and dies within a radius of two 
miles of its parent’s nest. Once mated 
always mated, seems to be the rule. 
When they select a place and build a 
nest, they stick to the locality year by 
year, even if the place be so . exposed 
that is always robbed of the eggs. 
He is- too entirely self-sufficient to 
ever migrate to warmer climes. No, he 
had rather freeze to death declaring 
that his own particular home is the 
best and most wisely-selected on the 
earth than for one moment to expose 
his judgment in the matter to criticism. 
Any Southern-raised boy can tell you 
where to find the mockingbird in win¬ 
ter; that is, if that boy has ever observed 
birds. Select any berry-bearing tree 
I I 
or vine that retains its fruit through 
the winter, especially if it be a thick, 
thorny growth, and you will be certain 
to find it pre-empted by a pair of mock- 
ingbirds. They generally take pos- 
ession about November 1. Not only 
may they be seen in or near the tree 
thus selected the whole winter through, 
but woe to any other birds that steal 
a berry from their estate. 
While posessing a great variety of 
notes and wonderful powers of imita¬ 
tion, yet he cannot be called our finest 
vocalist. His attempts at the imitation 
of the metalic harmony of the smaller 
thrushes are fruitless. The Brown 
Thrasher has a voice far superior in 
sweetness, while being scarcely infer¬ 
ior in vigor and strength. Despite 
these inferiorities, he posesses a marked 
brilliancy in his vocal performances 
that makes him at once the general 
favorite. 
— J. R. Bronson. 
The Gardens of the London Zoolog¬ 
ical Society opened nearly seventy years 
ago, cover only about thirty-six acres, 
but contain a magnificent collection of 
about 2300 animals. In Berlin, the 
portion of the Theirgarten given up to 
animals embraces about sixty acres, 
accomodating 1500 animals. In Paris, 
the animal section of the .lardin des 
Plantes has an area of about seventeen 
acres, with 900 animals. The National 
Zoological Park at Washington, the 
first appropriation for which was made 
only five years ago, has an area of 
nearly sixteen acres, and the latest re¬ 
port gives the number of animals as 
510, of which 200 are of the largest size. 
Several of the older collections of the 
United States are larger than this in 
the number of specimens. That at 
Philadelphia, with grounds of about 
40 acres, has 881 animals; that at Cin¬ 
cinnati, occupying thirty six acres, 
embraces 800 animals; and in that at 
New York, assigned to some ten acres 
of Central Park, are kept about 
700 animals. 
