Yesterday I thought the close Mockingbird had formed a pair.  I saw him purring and gently chasing her with his repertoire.  Today he is rumpled and alone and she is nowhere to be seen.

    He or his father or his grandfather have dominated the close territory for some years.  The wife and I have shared his clans victories and defeats.  We remember him especially because we watched him leap and chatter one early summer and then after a storm we found his child dead in the wreckage of a fallen branch.

    So we are inclined to coo encouragement at him, help him to chase Blue Jays and he obliges us by considering us friendly.

    Yesterday I did notice that his new friend was nervous of me.  She gave me that questioning eye, which is transient and illusive and wild.  I think she distrusted the location. 

    I have tried to apologize to the close Mockingbird for bringing the neighborhood into disrepute, but the understanding we have does not include apology. 

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