MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 259 



evidently remain and breed. Audubon states that none breed so far 

 south as South Carolina, and that few remain so far north as Florida 

 in winter; but Dr. Coues, in his ''Synopsis of the Birds of South Caro- 

 lina,"* gives it as abundant and resident in that State. 



7* Mimus polyglottus Boie. Mockixg-Bird. 



Common. Contrary to my anticipations, I failed to hear this bird 

 sing during my three months' stay in Florida, except in a few' instances 

 near Jacksonville early in April, at which time they were nesting, 

 although everywhere more or less common. It was more frequent 

 along the borders of the forest and about clumps of bushes in the pine 

 barrens than in the hummocks. It differed from its relatives, the 

 brown thrush and cat-bird, in avoiding the denser thickets, which are 

 the favorite resorts of the latter. The resemblance of the mocking-bird 

 to the loggerhead shrike, in mode of flight and general appearance, 

 which must strike every observer, has been properly referred to by Dr. 

 Coues. f 



Different specimens of the mocking-bird from Florida differ consider- 

 ably from each other in intensity of color, some being much darker 

 than others, and in the extent of the white on the outer tail feathers, and 

 also in the length, thickness, and curvature of the bill. Some have the 

 commissure but slightly curved and the tip of the bill moderately de- 

 pressed ; others have the commissure much arched and the tip much 

 decurved. Several specimens before me from Cape Florida are smaller 

 than those from the St. John's River, with longer, slenderer, and more 

 curved bills. There seems to be as much difference between specimens 

 from South Florida and the Middle States, as between the numerous so- 

 called species of the West Indies, which, many of them at least, are 

 scarcely more than local forms of the original or first-described M. poly- 

 glottus. 



The following measurements of forty-four Florida specimens of this 

 species indicates its usual range of variation in size and proportions. The 

 extremes of this series are as follows : Length, 9.25 and 11.00 ; alar ex- 

 tent, 13.00 and 14.75; wing, 4.00 and 4.75; tail, 4.10 and 5.15. The 

 average dimensions are as follows : Length, 9.01 ; alar extent, 13.69 ; wing, 

 4.28; tail, 4.87. 



* Proc. Bost. Soc. Xat. Hist., Vol. XII, p. 113. 



t " Synopsis of the Birds of South Carolina," Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XII, 

 p. 113, October, 1868. 



