Cat-bird 481 



the lining only was renewed each year. The eggs, four 

 or five in number, are light greenish or blueish, spotted 

 with several shades of yellow-brovm. They measure 

 •98 X "74, and are to be found about the beginning of 

 June (Gale and Dille). 



Miss Myra Eggleston reports (Rockwell) that at Grand 

 Junction they raise two broods each season. A clutch 

 of two eggs taken on June 10th from a nest made of 

 horsehair and old rags, built in the school-house j^ard 

 at Evans, Weld co., is preserved in the Colorado College 

 Museum. They were taken and presented by Ivan Hall. 



Genus DUMETELLA. 



Very closely allied to Minms, but the tarsal scutellation often very 

 indistinct, and the plumage without white on the wings and tail. 

 One North American species. 



Cat-bird. Dumetella carolinensis. 



A.O.U. ChecklLst no 704 — Colorado Records — Allen 72, p. 147 

 Trippe 74, p. 228 ; Henshaw 75, p. 152 ; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 153 

 Drew 85, p. 15 ; Beckham 85, p. 140 ; Morrison 88, p. 71 ; Cooke 97 

 pp. 19, 119, 221 ; Dille 03, p. 74 ; Henderson 03, p. 237 ; 09, p. 240 

 Warren 06, p. 24 ; 08, p. 25 ; Gihnan 07, p. 194 ; Markman 07, p. 158 

 Rockwell 08, p. 177 ; Hersey & Rockwell 09, p. 121. 



Description. — Male— General colour above and below slaty-grey, 

 darker above, lighter below ; crown, nape and tail sooty-black, the 

 wings the same but edged with slaty ; under tail-coverts rich chestnut ; 

 iris brown, bill black, legs dark horny. Length 8-40; wing 3-60; 

 tail 4-0; culmen -65 ; tarsus 1-05. 



The female is very similar, but the crown is generally a little less 

 sooty, the chestnut of the under tail-coverts less conspicuoas, and 

 it is shghtly smaller — wing 3-55. In a young bird the colours are 

 again less defined, the under-parts obsoletely spotted with darker and 

 the under tail-coverts paler or even fawn colour. 



Distribution. — Breeding from British Columbia and Oregon to Texas, 

 and from Nova Scotia to northern Florida, wintering in the southern 

 States, West Indies and eastern Mexico to Panama. 



In Colorado the Cat-bird is a fairly common summer resident in the 

 plains and foothills of the eastern half of the State, but is a good deal 

 less plentiful on the western slope ; it breeds in the mountains up to 



HH 



