To See A Mockingbird

I took a picture of the Osage Avenue sparrow convention that is very similar to Ceridwen's blip, and I was calling the fatter, larger bird the alpha sparrow. I posted it on facebook and was very quickly advised that it's a mocking bird. I got this closer shot from the other side of the conference bush.

Now here's a bird I know little about. Rather than seeing mocking birds, one spends more time either hearing their voices or songs about them, like THIS ONE, which is immediately recognized by Americans of my generation and all those going back to before the Civil War. I remember cartoon characters singing it when I was a boy, but I can't recall which ones. The lyrics, in part, go like this:

I'm dreaming now of Hally, sweet Hally, sweet Hally;
I'm dreaming now of Hally,
For the thought of her is one that never dies:
Shes sleeping in the valley, the valley, the valley
She's sleeping in the valley,
And the mocking bird is singing where she lies.

[Chorus]
Listen to the mocking bird,
Listen to the mocking bird,
The mocking bird still singing o'er her grave;
Listen to the mocking bird,
Listen to the mocking bird,
Still singing where the weeping willows wave.

Of course Ceridwen is right to mention the great novel To Kill A Mockingbird. That's been much more famous than the old song, ever since it was published in 1960. In the book Miss Maudie says to Scout,

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."