from this moment their trouble and worry were
grievous to see. So much self-reliance has the mocking-bird, even in the
nest, that he cannot be kept there until his legs are strong enough to
bear his weight, or his wings ready to fly. The full-grown spirit of the
race blossoms out in the young one at eleven days, and for several more
he is exposed to so many dangers that I wonder there is one left in the
State.

The parents, one after the other, came down on to a bush near my seat to
remonstrate with me; and I must admit that so great was my sympathy, and
so uncomfortable did I feel at adding in the least to their anxiety,
that I should never have seen that young family fledged, only that I
knew perfectly well what they did not, that I was a protection to them.
I tried to reassure the mother by addressing her in her own language (as
it were), and she turned quickly, looked, listened, and returned to her
tree, quieted. This sound is a low whistling through the teeth, which
readily soothes cage birds. It interests and calms them, though I have
no notion what it means to them, for I am speaking an unknown tongue.

The baby on the tree was not quiet, climbing about the branches every
moment that he was not engaged in dressing his feathers, the first and
most important business of the newly emancipated nestling. After an hour
or more of watching there was a sudden stir in the family, and the
youngster made his appearance on the ground. He was not under the side
of the tree on which he had been resting, so, although I did not see the
passage, I knew he had not fallen, as he is popularly said to do, but
flown as well as he was able. I started slowly down the yard to examine
the little stranger, but was absolutely startled by a cry from the
mother, that sounded exactly like "Go 'way!" as I have often heard a
negro girl say it. Later it was very familiar, a yearning, anxious
heart-aching sound to hear.

The youth was very lively, starting off at once on his travels, never
for an instant doubting his own powers. I saw his first movement, which
was a hop, and, what surprised and delighted me, accompanied by a
peculiar lifting of the wings, of which I shall have more to say. He
quickly hopped through the thin grass till he reached a fence, passed
down beside it till a break in the pickets left an open place on the
bottom board, sprang without hesitation upon that, and after a moment's
survey of the country beyond dropped down on t