316 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



MIMUS POLYGLOTTOS LEUCOPTERUS (Vigors) 



WESTERN MOCKINGBIRD 



PlATES 59, 60 



HABITS 



The western mockingbird is a larger bird than its eastern relative, 

 with a relatively shorter tail ; its general coloration is paler, with the 

 underparts more washed with buffy ; the white at the bases of the pri- 

 maries is more extended and the white tips of the wing coverts are 

 broader; and the wing feathers are tipped with white; leucopterus is 

 an appropriate name. It was long considered to be a bird of the south- 

 western States and Mexico, but either it has extended its range or we 

 have extended our knowledge of its distribution during recent years. 

 Even the 1931 Check-list seems to limit its northward range to cen- 

 tral California, southern Wyoming, and northwestern Nebraska. 

 Laurence B. Potter, of Eastend, Saskatchewan, writes to me: "In 

 Canada generally, the mockingbird is considered a rare visitant any- 

 where. This fact makes all the more remarkable the irruption of 

 mockingbirds into the prairie provinces, with nesting records in Al- 

 berta and Saskatchewan. The first bird was noted in 1927, the last 

 about 1937, a period of about ten years. Since then mockingbirds 

 have appeared on Vancouver Island. P. A. Taverner (1934) says 

 that the western mockingbird is probably the one that has wandered 

 to southern British Columbia, but that "the subspecific identity of the 

 prairie occurrences is doubtful." 



The western mockingbird is a more or less permanent resident in 

 the hot Lower Sonoran valleys of the southwestern States, but it re- 

 tires in winter from the northern portions of its range and from the 

 foothills farther south, where it is common up to 5,000 feet in summer. 

 John G. Tyler (1913) says of its haunts in the Fresno region of Cali- 

 fornia, which are typical : "The writer has observed Mockingbirds in 

 a small orchard surrounding a ranch house, far out on the plains near 

 Wheatville, among the tangle of swamp growths below Riverdale, 

 and along one or two of the creeks that lead down from the foothills ; 

 but the center of their abundance seems to be the most highly culti- 

 vated and thickly settled tracts in the valley. Orchards, hedgerows, 

 fig-bordered vineyards, and shade trees around dwellings are favorite 

 haunts of this famous vocalist; and from the tops of windmills, the 

 topmost branches of trees, or the roofs of buildings, they pour forth 

 their wonderful repertoire of song." And Ralph Hoffmann (1927) 

 adds : "It is one of the surprises of a bird student on his first visit to 

 the Coast to see Mockingbirds singing from the chimneys of a hotel, 

 flirting their long tails on the curbing of city streets or pursuing one 

 another in and out of city traffic. All they ask are yards about the 



