After volunteering to take Prim's place in the Hunger Games, Katniss receives several visitors. Among them is her friend Madge Undersee, who convinces Katniss to take her mockingjay pin as her tribute token – an object a tribute is allowed to carry to the games to boost morale. The pin with a mockingjay on it is a small gesture of rebellion to the evil Capitol that rules their world. The Capitol tried to breed jabberjays, birds that would relay conversations back to government officials, but the experiment was a failure when people began lying in the presence of the jabberjays. Jabberjays then mated with mockingbirds to create the mockingjay, a bird that only repeats songs it has heard. The mockingjays are a reminder to the government of the collapse of the jabberjay plan, and the bird becomes an important symbol for Katniss in later books.
