The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-04
FUN OF A MOCNTNG BIRD.
Queer Things Seen by n Lover of
Nature in Louisiana.

Nature in Louisiana.
Benton Q4a.) Letter in New York Sun.
Bob Wyche, who ran for sheriff here
once and got beaten and has since devoted
himself to raising cotton and 'possums
and 'coons and queer theories about ami
mails, was in town yesterday with story
about a mocking bird, or rather, a pair of
them, that have been building in an oak
near his back yard. He has let his crop
get into the grass while watching them,
but as he has learned something new he
thinks he is ahead of the game. Wyche
believes that the eyes of all the lower
animals have magnifying lenses In them,
and that any object seen by them seems
many times Its natural size. Else, he asks,
why should a horse Shy violently at rab-
bit and an elephant trumpet its terror
when it sees mouse? To the fact that
mans eye does not magnify he ascrbes
his dominion over nature, declaring that
if Adam had started out handicapped with
the elephants disadvantages Of vision he
would have been frightened to death before
going twenty yards from the front gate
of Eden. But about these hooking birds
The male appeare- a month ago dressed
in his spring suit of gray, white and dark
brown. lie proved himself an old ac-
quaintance by giving a bad imitation of
the whistle of the upland plover, a trick
he had learned from Wyche while listen
ing to him practicing about the place last
fall. The fact that he learned the note
from the man was proved by It's inaccu-
racy. If he had learned it from the bird
1t would have been perfect He looked
over the oak carefully and, having found
a crotch near the top that suited him.
perched himself on a swinging limb and
went over his repertory. Wyche was in
terested, because he has held the theory
that hooking birds have bad memories,
and forget in the winter much that they
learned In the summer months. This bird
proved 1t. He esSayed the love call of the
quail, the cakle of the laying hen. the
chirp of the scissor-tail that goes to South
America in the cold months the raucous
song Of the French hooking bird" and
many other sounds common in the Louisi-
ana summer, and made a failure OF them
all. He tried them repeatedly, but missed.
his voice going away into a sort of asham-
ed quaver. He was well up In the notes
of Northern birds that had wintered
around him, and was especially strong on
the call of the wild duck, the honlx of tho
goose, and the scream Of the blue heron
but his old gift of soft, endless song was
gone. II many ne gave IL up ana flew away
rapidly, seeing that his listener was laugh
ing.
He was back the next morning with bis
wife, female Of the previous season 8
breeding, and some six or seven years lie
junior The hooking bird never has the
same mate two seasons ia succession. He
goes through life along the lines Of "a
fresh wife for every village" He showed
her the limb fork he had selected for The
nest, and she set to work instantly Mean
while he practiced. His work during ali
the building week consisted wholly of on
tertalning his Industrious mate with song
and warning off intruders. He did moi
once lower his dignity by bringing a twie
or a horsohair, nor did he feed her she
worked nceasingly, getting her food as
best she could, and he sang The rapidly
with which ne recovered his powers was
wonderful In ten days he was az his
best. Every sound of the woodland was
at his command. Satisfied with himself
at last, he forsooS, song for awhile ana
brought worms to his wife, who was hue
ging the nest. The little ones are now orr
Of the shell, and the wife Is doing the feod-
ing. The male Is again in the fun tide az
mlnistrelsy The neighing Of colts The
beating Of calves, the growing Of cocks