I am often heard, but seldom seen. If I were a little boy or a little
girl, grown people would tell me I should be seen and not heard. That's
the difference between you and a bird like me, you see.
It would repay you to make my acquaintance. I am such a jolly bird.
Sometimes I get all the dogs in my neighborhood howling by whistling
just like their masters. Another time I mew like a cat, then again I
give some soft sweet notes different from those of any bird you ever
heard.
In the spring, when my mate and I begin house-keeping, I do some very
funny things, like the clown in a circus. I feel so happy that I go up a
tree branch by branch, by short flights and jumps, till I get to the
very top. Then I launch myself in the air, as a boy dives when he goes
swimming, and you would laugh to see me flirting my tail, and dangling
my legs, coming down into the thicket by odd jerks and motions.
It really is so funny that I burst out laughing myself, saying,
_chatter-chatter, chat-chat-chat-chat!_ I change my tune sometimes, and
it sounds like _who who_, and _tea-boy_.
You must be cautious though, if you want to see me go through my
performance. Even when I am doing those funny things in the air I have
an eye out for my enemies. Should I see you I would hide myself in the
bushes and as long as you were in sight I would be angry and say _chut,
chut!_ as cross as could be.
Have I any other name?
Yes, I am called the Yellow Mockingbird. But that name belongs to
another. His picture was in the June number of BIRDS, so you know
something about him. They say I imitate other birds as he does. But I
do more than that. I can throw my voice in one place, while I am in
another.
It is a great trick, and I get lots of sport out of it.
Do you know what that trick is called? If not, ask your papa. It is such
a long word I am afraid to use it.
About my nest?
Oh, yes, I am coming to that. I arrive in this country about May 1, and
leave for the south in the winter. My nest is nothing to boast of;
rather big, made of leaves, bark, and dead twigs, and lined with fine
grasses and fibrous roots. My mate lays eggs, white in color, and our
little ones are, like their papa, very handsome.
[Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
CHICAGO COLORTYPE CO.
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT.
Copyrighted by
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1897, Chicago.]