mocking-bird I ever heard. His perch was the topmost twig
of the tallest tree in the group. It was a cedar, perhaps fifteen feet
high, around which a jasmine vine had clambered, and that morning opened
a cluster of fragrant blossoms at his feet, as though an offering to the
most noted singer on our side of the globe. As I drew near he turned his
clear, bright eye upon me, and sang a welcome to North Carolina; and
several hours later, when the moon rose high over the waters of the
Sound, he completed his perfect performance with a serenade, the like of
which I fear I may never hear again. I chose to consider his attentions
personal, because, of all the household, I am sure I was the only one
who listened, and I had passed over many miles of rolling and tossing
ocean to make his acquaintance.

Nothing would have been easier, or more delightful, than to pitch one's
tent in a certain pine grove not far away, and pass days and weeks in
forgetting the world of cares, and reading favorite books, lulled at all
hours of day and night by the softened roar of the ocean and the
wonderful bird

"Singing the song of everything,
Consummate sweet, and calm."

But it was not merely as singer that I wished to know him; nor to watch
his dainty and graceful ways as he went about the daily duties of
food-hunting, singing, and driving off marauders, which occupied his
hours from dawn to late evening, and left him spirit enough for many a
midnight rhapsody. It was in his domestic relations that I desired to
see him,--the wooing of the bride and building the nest, the training of
mocking-bird babies and starting them in the world; and no loitering and
dreaming in the pine grove, however tempting, would tell me this. I must
follow him to his more secluded retreats, see where he had set up his
homestead.

Thoreau--or is it Emerson?--says one always finds what he looks for, and
of course I found my nests. One pair of birds I noticed through the
courtship, the selection of the site, the building and occupying of the
nest; another couple, already sitting when discovered, I watched
through the incubation and nursing of the little ones, and at last
assisted in giving them a fair chance for their lives and a start in the
world. It may be thought that my assistance was not particularly
valuable; the birds shared this opinion; none the less, but for my
presence not one of those birdlings would be free and happy to-day, as I
hope and believe