The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-12-06
THE MOCKING-BIRD.
a Lover of Nature Visits the Sweet Singer
in the Florida Pines.

a Lover Oh Nature flsltS tne sweet singer
in the Florida Pines.
Near the mouth of the St. Marks
River, as l lay under small tree,
mocking-bird came and lit on the top
of a neighboring bush, and sang for me
its rarest and most wonderful combina-
ton, called by the negroes the drop
ping song" Whoever has closely OBJ
served the bird has noted it's amounting
song" a very frequent performance,
wherein the songster begins ON the
lowest branch of tree and appears
literally to mount on its music, from
Dough to Dough, until the highest spray
of the top is reached, where it will sit
for many minutes llinging upon the air
an ecstatic stream OF almost infinitely
varied vocalization But he who has
never heard the dropping song has
not discovered the last possibility of the
mocking-bird' voice. | have never
found any note of this extremely in
teresting habit of the bird by any
ornithologist, habit which is, | sus-
pect, occasional, and connected
with the most tender part of
the mating season. 1t is, in a measure,
the reverse of the mounting song" be-
ginning where the latter leaves off. l
have heard it but four times, when | was
sure of it, during all my rambles and
patient observations in the chosen
haunts of the bird; once in North Geor-
gia, twice in the immediate vicinity of
Tallahassee, Florida, and once near the
st. Marks River, as above mentioned.
have at several other times heard the
song, as thought, but not being able to
see the bird, or clearly distinguish the
peculiar notes, / cannot register these as
certainly correct. My attention was first
called to this interesting performance
by an aged negro man, who, being with
me on an egg-hunting expedition, cried
out one morning, as burst of strangely
rhaPsodic music rang from haw thick
ct near our eXtemporized camp, "Lis'n,
mars, lis'n, dar, he's a-droppin', he's
a-droppin', sho's yo' bo'nn' / could
not see the bird, and before | could get
my attention rightly fixed upon the song
it had ended.
Something of the rare aroma, so to
speak, of the curiously modulated trills
and quayers fingered in my memory,
however, along with Uncle JOS graphic
description of the birds actions. After
that | was on the lookout for an oppor-
tunity to verify the negro's statements.
have not exactly kept the date of my
first actual observation. but it was late
n April, or very early in MAY; for the
crab-apple trees. growing wild in the
Georgian hills. were in full bloom and
spring had come to stay. | had been
out since the first sparkle of daylight.
The sun was rising, and l had been
standing quite still for some minutes,
watching a mOcking-bird that was sing
ing in a snatchy, broken way. as it tlut-
tered about in a thick-topped crab-apple
tree thirty yards distant from me. Sud
denly the bird. fine specimen, lcaped
like flash to the highest spray OF the
tree and began to flutter in a trem-
bling, peculiar way, with its wings half
spread and its feathers pulled out. AL
most Immediately there came a strange,
gurgling series ofnotes, liquid and sweet,
that seemed to express utter rapture.
Then the bird dropped, with a backward
motion, from the spray, and began to
fall slowly and somewhat spirally down
through the bloom-covered boughs. Its
progress was quite like that of bird
wounded to death by a shot, clnging
here and there to a twig, quivering, and
weakly striking with its wings as it fell,
but all the time it was pouring forth the
most exquisite CUISINES and trillS of song,
not ut all like its usual medley Of impro-
viScd limitations, but strikin@ly, almost
startlngly. individual and unique. The
bird appeared to be dying Of an ecstasy
of musical inspiration. The lower it
fell the louder and more rapturous be-
came IFS voice, until the song ended on
the ground in a burst of incompatible
vocal power. 1t remained for a short
time, after its song was ended, crouch
ing where it had fallen, with its wings
outspread, and quiyering and painting
as if utterly eXhausted; then it leapcd
boldly into the air and flew away into
an adjacent thicket. Since then, as
have said, three other opportunities
have been afforded me of Witnessing
this curiously pleasing exhibition OF
bird-acting. | can half imagine what
tAiibLAiNl ONAt INNtllN Ill3llb ll'lNt W llliCH
had his eyes seen and his ears heard
that strange, fascinating, dramatically
rendered song. Grit might better have
suited Shelley's powers of expression.
1t is said that the grandest bursts of
Oratory are those which contain a strong
trace Of reserve of power. This may
be true; but is not the best song that
wherein the voice sweeps, with the last
expression of ecstasy, from wave to
wave of music until with a supreme eff
fort it wreaks its fullest power, thus
ending in a victory over the final OBJ
stacle, as if with its utmost reach? Be
this as it may, whoever may be fo7tu-
nate enough to hear the mocking- bird S
dropping song" and at the same time
see the birds action, will at once have
the idea of genius, pure and simple,
suggested to him.-Atlantic Monthly.
Two Poisons.