Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1895 — Peculiarity of the Mocking Bird. [ARTICLE]

Peculiarity of the Mocking Bird.

The most remarkable thing about a mocking bird is its way of laying out a range. In the autumn it goes South and establishes itself on a piece of ground that will yield berries and other' food enough to last until the following spring. The tract is determined respecting boundaries with as much accuracy as a mining prospector would use in staking out a claim. Perhaps it may be only fifty yards square, and it may have a length and breadth of as much as 100 yards. The space depends mainly upon the food supply in sight, but the mocking bird is a great glutton and wastes ten times the quantity that would be necessary to keep him alive. Having laid out his range, the owner will defend it with his life, and no other fruit-eating bird is allowed to enter it