110 MOCKING BIRD.
take pleasure in contributing to their safety. The dew-berries from the
fields, and many kinds of fruit from the gardens, mixed with insects, supply
the young as well as the parents with food. The brood is soon seen
emerging from the nest, and in another fortnight, being now able to fly
with vigour, and to provide for themselves, they leave the parent birds,
as many other species do.
The above account does not contain all that I wish you to know of
the habits of this remarkable songster; so, I shall shift the scene to the
woods and wilds, where we shall examine it more particularly.
The Mocking Bird remains in Louisiana the whole year. I have observed
with astonishment, that towards the end of October, when those
which had gone to the Eastern States, some as far as Boston, have returned,
they are instantly known by the " southrons,11 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 winch 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 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
MOCKING BIRD. I l l
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 foi
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 repeatedly forced from the dear
spot, and has been much alarmed by frequent intrusions, that she finally
and reluctantly leaves it. Nay, if the eggs are on the eve of being hatched,
she will almost suffer a person to lay hold of her.
Different species of snakes ascend to their nests, and generally suck
the eggs or swallow the young; but on all such occasions, not only the
pair to which the nest belongs, but many other Mocking Birds from the
vicinity, fly to the spot, attack the reptiles, and, in some cases, are so fortunate
as either to force them to retreat, or deprive them of life. Cats
that have abandoned the houses to prowl about the fields, in a half wild
state, are also dangerous enemies, as they frequently approach the nest
unnoticed, and at a pounce secure the mother, or at least destroy the eggs
or young, and overturn the nest. Children seldom destroy the nests of
these birds, and the planters generally protect them. So much does this
feeling prevail throughout Louisiana, that they will not willingly permit
a Mocking Bird to be shot at any time.
In winter, nearly all the Mocking Birds approach the farm-houses
and plantations, living about the gardens or outhouses. They are then
frequently seen on the roofs, and perched on the chimney-tops; yet they
always appear full of animation. Whilst searching for food on the
ground, their motions are light and elegant, and they frequently open
their wings as butterflies do when basking in the sun, moving a step or
two, and again throwing out their wings. When the weather is mild,