Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 93
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TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 93
the young brood. *The birds are
gathered when quite young and
fed in cages prepared of the reed
seen along some portions of our
river banks, and when full grown
they sell them to tourists and
others who generally pay a fancy
price for a good singer. In the
Mexican settlements, across the
Alazan Creek, hordes of Mexicans
could be seen in former years
preparing the attractive bird cages
and rearing t h e young-mostly
with cornmeal and egg and Mexican
pepper called "chili peppin," also
cooked potatoes, and ground maiz,
etc., and often regular caravans
of Mexicans-men, women and
children, could be seen marching
to the hotels, etc., in search of a
buyer. The young as well as
the old birds are very fond of
raw meat and red Mexican pepper
and scraped raw meat with cooked
egg and pepper is a very wholesome
food for them. When reared from
nestlings much care is needed in
keeping the cage perfectly clean
and always well provided with
fresh water. Neglect in this re-
spect has killed many a fine singer
and unless the stated precautions
are not heeded it is a crime to
take young birds from the nest
and incarcerate them in a cage.
The female mocking bird lays
three to five oval shaped light blu-
ish and chocolate spotted eggs,
in most instances though four eggs
are seen in the nest during breeding
time. Often these eggs are de-
stroyed by wild animals, especially
serpents and some peculiar birds
of prey, and snakes occasionally
devour the eggs with the entire
breeding bird. The photo herein
of a mocking bird's nest was espec-
ially prepared lately by the writer
for these pages, and it
shows the eggs plainly. These
eggs were of a bluish and slightly
reddish brown and chocolate dotted
color, and the entire nest whichwas not disturbed, was located
in a thorny bush with yellow
berries-a favorite breeding place
for our songster.
As a rule the female, assisted
by the male companion, prepares
its nest in a well secluded thicket
of a bush or tree, an'd in the prairie
it prefers very thorny and densely
grown bushes with light yellow
green leaves and bearing yellow
or black berries. Often, however,
the nests can be encountered at
places without the least protection
but generally many feet above
ground. Some such nests are so
shrewdly built and hidden that
absolutely no nest can be seen.
Generally though, the male bird
is seen and heard flying and
wildly screaming around the hidden
nest place. Such a hidden nest
with four mocking bird eggs is
the one seen in this issue and
encountered lately in the hilly
regions of the beautiful Leona
valley, near San Antonio, the
protecting branches and leaves
which entirely secluded the nest
having previously been held back
in order to have a full view
of the nest and its contents.
It is a fihe and rare view showing
the spotted eggs very plainly.
The fundamental or main breed-
ing nest is generally composed
of soft grass fibers which the bird
arranges in a circle to form the
basis of the nest; then comes a
layer of somewhat coarser material
and lastly the thorny branch
particles seen in the photo but,
somewhat blurred on account of
close focus. This mode of nest
building is typical of all mocking
birds wherever they build.
Another photo shows a group of
prairie birds and our prairie queen
-the mocking bird-in a flying
position. In the rear, on a mes-
quite bush, is seen a wren and nest
with eggs, and a woodpecker. This
is quite a typical prairie bird scene
encountered often near the environ-
ments of our old historic San An-
tonio.
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Menger, R. Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses, book, 1913; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143558/m1/97/?q=menger: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.