The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-07-07
THE M0CKING BIRD.
GRADUAL DETERMINATION OF
THE SPLENDID SONGSTER.
A Favorite Of the Poets-Hls
Haunts and Habits-Wanton
Slaughter of the Bird
Pillage of His Nest.

the close of the war, mocking birds were
plentiful everywhere in Georgia. During
the years that followed, freedom armed
race to whom guns had been forbidden.
The negro became an enthusiastic hunter,
! but he was unskilled and could crafty
his craze for destroying only upon birds
that were nearest at hand.
The destruction of the mocking bird
has also been more rapid because his nest
has been systematically robbed by parties
of both colors for private ga or gratiti--
cation. A year or two since we noted
one shipment of these birds from Savan-
nah which contained six or seven hun
dred. Upon the streets of this and all
other cities they are openly sold every
summer.
The loss of these birds and others not
named from the field is very unfortunate,
if we consider the matter merely from
the standpoint of economy. 1t is said,
and any one who has seen the mocklng
bird feeding his young may readily be-
lieve it, that worm or bug goes to Its
nest every five minutes during the day.
This would give more than one hundred
to the day for every pair during the nest
life Of their young, three sets OF which
are raised every summer. When it is re-
membered that every bug or worm thus
cut off may represent thousands, the
value of the birds services can be under
stood. True, he takes figs and berries.
but he earns them.
When, however, we lock at him from
a sentimental point, the wonder that any
one can harm member of the mocking
bird family increases. No song bird IN
the world can equal the sweetness of his
notes or sustain song so long. No bird
known to naturalists can produce the
notes of others and of owls or even ami
mails with such precision and in such
combination. The little gray singer
that balances himself upon tree tops or
dances along the ridges of our houses
seems to have all the bird notes of the
land at his tongues end and to delight in
weaving them into new forms of beauty.
, That he has never been the poets theme
to the extent that the lark, the night
ingale, or even the robin has. Iattribute
to his name. It is not fitted for verses,
nor is it at all poetical. Had he borne
the name of Orpheus, as does his cousin,
of the Great Antilles, he would have
filled the song lore Of the South. Paul
Hayne, William Hamilton Hayne, and a
few others have used him, but none have
conquered his plebeian name. Sidney
Lanier, who loved and observed every
form of nature, pays attention to him.
and the description is so graphic and
perfect that it should be noted.
Superb and sole upon plumel spray
That DER the general LEAKAGE boldly grew,
He summoned the woods in song; or typlc
| drew
The watch of hungry hawks, the lone dis.
| may
Of languid doves whose lovers stray.
Or all birds passion plays that sprinkle dew
At morn in brake or bosky avenue.
Whate'er birds did, or dreamed, this bird
could say;
Then down he shot, bounced airily along,
The sward, twitched grasshopper, made
Mid flight, perched, pinked, and to his art
Sweet science, this large riddle read me
How may the death of that dull insect be
The life of yon trim Shakespeare on the
tree.
Most Southern people are familiar with
the habits of these birds, but it will be
news to many to be told, as in the ency-
clopedia Britannica, that they 60 to New
England in the summer to breed and re-
turn in the fall. Audubon's statement
was that some of them "go north," and
this term applied to the migration of
birds means with him northward. In
Maryland and Virginia the bird can be
found in summer, but he comes north
ward in the autumn. I am inclined to
think that some pass us and 60 to Flor
ida in very cold weather. have seen
them late in the autumn flying south
ward high in the air and northward
early in the spring. Audubon says that
the stay at home birds of the family
fight these migratory fellows upon
their return.
Mocking birds can be taught almost
anything in the way of tunes. Macon
used to boast of a bird that whistled
"Dixie," and years ago Frenchman
travelled about the country playing airs
upon the piano which his bird would
! follow accurately. At the Pulaski House,
| in Savannah, negro used to keep bird
that would whistle good alto to tunes
his master whistled.
One of the most popular errors con.
cerning the mocking bird is the belief
that he has no song of his own; that he
adopts and blends only the notes of other
birds into song. This is pure nonsense.
The young mocking birds reared in the
garre,s Of great cities and beyond the
reach of the songs of others sing as do
the natives in their freedom, though not
as strongly, since they lack the inspira-
tion of mates, the mellow sunlight and
liberty. Their song u.s. in fact, number
of songs, but entirely original. No man
ever heard the divisions of the mocking
birds song in any forest. That he in
tersperses them with cat calls, the hawks
screech, the whirr of the bull bat, and
chickens melancholy peep, and notes
from other birds is true, but these are
only characters in his recitative ballad,
features in the romance of his summers.
That he sings his parts backward and
forward and combines them anew is also
true. The mocking birds song is to the
ear what the Kaleidoscope is to the eye,
and the combinations of his songs are rs
endless as the glass forms in the toy. But
the song notes are the same.
This bird is probably the most continu-
Gus singer in the world, but there arc
two weeks out of every ffty-two when