BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 225 



MIMUS POLYGLOTTOS POLYGLOTTOS (Linnaeus.) 

 MOCKINGBIRD. 



Adult male. — Above plain brownish gray (deep smoke gray); 

 wings and tail dull blackish slate or slate-blackish with pale slate-gray 

 edgings, these broadest on secondaries (especially the terminal por- 

 tion, where sometimes inclining to white) ; middle and greater wing- 

 coverts narrowl}" tipped with dull white or grayish white, forming two 

 narrow bands (these indistinct in worn plumage) ; primary coverts 

 white, usually with a subterminal spot or streak of dusk5?^;base of pri- 

 maries white, this most extended on the two innermost, where occupy- 

 ing at least basal half of both webs, often much more, that on the longer 

 quills sometimes entirely concealed by overlying primary coverts; 

 outermost rectrix white, sometimes with a trace of dusk}^ or graj'ish 

 on outer web; second rectrix with outer web mostly blackish or dusky, 

 the inner web mostly white; third rectrix blackish or dusky, with 

 more or less (never much more, usually much less, than half) of the 

 terminal and basal portions white; a very indistinct superciliary stripe 

 of pale gray or grayish white; eyelids grayish white; lores dusky; 

 auricular region grayish, indistinctly streaked (very narrowly) with 

 whitish; suborbital and malar regions dull white, usually faintly 

 barred or transversely flecked with grayish or dusky; chin and throat 

 dull white, margined along each side by a more or less distinct dusky 

 submalar streak; chest and sides of breast pale smoke gray, passing 

 into a more buffy hue on sides and flanks, the under tail-coverts pale 

 buff or buffy white; abdomen and center of breast white; bill black, 

 .the basal portion of mandible brownish; iris light grayish yellow; 

 legs and feet dusky (in dried skins) ; length (skins) , 220-255 (239) ; 

 wing 106-120 (111.4); tail, 110-134 (119.9); exposed culmen, 17-18.5 

 (17.9); tarsus, 29.5-34(32.5); middle toe, 19-20.5 (20.2).« 



Adult female. — Similar to the adult male, but averaging slightly 

 smaller and usually with the white of primaries and lateral rectrices 

 slightly more restricted; length (skins), 208-235 (225); wing 100- 

 111.5 (104.8); tail, 100.5-114.5 (108.5); exposed culmen, 16-18 (17); 

 tarsus, 30.5-34 (31.6); middle toe, 18.5-21.-5 (19.9). « 



Young. — Above paler brownish gray or grayish l)rown, passing into 

 wood brown or Isabella color on rump and upper tail-coverts, where, 

 together with the back, the feathers have indistinct mesial streaks of 

 darker; under parts dull white (passing into pale bufl'y or buify white 

 posteriorly), the chest, breast (at least laterally), sides, and flanks 

 spotted w^ith dusky; wings and tail much as in adults, but on greater 

 wing-coverts and secondaries broadly edged with light buffy gray or 

 pale wood brown, the tertials margined terminally with pale grayish 

 buff or buffy white, the middle and greater coverts more broadly 



" Ten specimens. 

 1142?— VOL 4—07 15 



