Western Mocking-bird 479 



bush ; Henshaw states that in the case of a nest examined 

 by him there was a kind of platform erected above the 

 nest, apparently as a screen from the sun. The eggs, 

 usually five, are greenish-blue, heavily spotted with 

 brown and lilac. Warren found a nest with five fresh 

 eggs on June 22nd, near the lower bridge over the Snake 

 River, in Routt co., and Oilman (07, p. 142) several with 

 six and seven eggs at Navajo Springs, near the New 

 Mexico border line, on May 31st and the following days. 



Genus MIMUS. 



Bill moderate, shorter than the head ; culmen slightly curved ; 

 rictal bristles well developed ; tail slightly longer than the wing, 

 graduated, the outer feathers considerably shorter than the next pair ; 

 tarsus very distinctly scutellated ; plumage dull brown with white on 

 the wings and tail. 



A considerable American genus with only one species in the United 

 States, separated into ah eastern and western race, hardly to be dis- 

 tinguished from each other. 



Western Mocking-bird. MimiLS polyglottos leucopterus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 703a— Colorado Records— Say 1823, Vol. ii., 

 p. 182 ; Ridgway 73, p. 179 ; Henshaw 75, p. 151 ; Allen & Brewster 

 83, p. 153 ; Drew 85, p. 15 ; Beckham 85, p. 140 ; Morrison 88, p. 71 ; 

 Lowe 92, p. 101 ; Cooke 97, pp. 19, 119, 221 ; 98, p. 13 ; Keyser 02, 

 p. 98 ; DiUe 03, p. 74 ; Warren 06, p. 24 ; 08, p. 25 ; 09, p. 17 ; Gihnan 

 07, p. 194 ; Markman 07, p. 158 ; Rockwell 08, p. 177 ; Henderson 

 09, p. 240. 



Description. — Adult male — Above dull slaty-browni, becoming dusky 

 black on the wings and tail, the former with white on the bases of the 

 primaries, on the greater part of the primary-coverts and the tips 

 of some of the oviter coverts ; the tail with the outer pair of feathers 

 almost entirely white, the second and third pairs with oblique white 

 tips chiefly on the inner web ; below and an indistinct superciliary 

 stripe dirty white, rather smoky on the chest and flanks, more buffy 

 on the breast ; iris greyish-yellow, bill black, paler towards the base 

 of the lower mandible ; legs diosky. Length 8-5 ; wing 4-25 ; tail 4-5 ; 

 culmen -7 ; tarsus 1-15. 



The female closely resembles the male, but is a trifle smaller. A 

 young bird is a good deal paler above, and has the light edgings on 

 the wings more developed, and the imder-parts spotted with dusky. 



