320 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



chachalaca coming from a mocker. Mrs. Bailey (1928) adds the killy- 

 k'llly of the sparrow hawk, the jia-coh of Mearns's woodpecker, and the 

 notes of the pinyon and Woodhouse's jays, the western kingbirds, the 

 green-tailed towhee and the Kocky Mountain nuthatch. Mrs. Nice 

 (1931) includes the yap of the English sparrow, the scold of the robin, 

 the chebec of the least flycatcher, and the notes of the scaled quail, 

 lark sparrow, canyon towhee, Bullock's oriole, western kingbird, and 

 house iinch. In addition to those named above, C. H. Richardson, Jr. 

 (1906), lists the following imitations heard in the vicinity of Pasa- 

 dena: Western gull, killdeer, valley partridge, sparrow hawk, Cali- 

 fornia woodpecker, red-shafter flicker, ash-throated flycatcher. Say's 

 and black phoebes, western wood pewee, western flycatcher, California 

 jay, western meadowlark, Arizona hooded oriole, Bullock oriole, 

 Brewer's blackbird, San Diego song sparrow, black-headed grosbeak, 

 western tanager, purple martin, cliff swallow, phainopepla, California 

 shrike, western gnatcatcher, dwarf hermit thrush, and western robin. 

 Following are some of the Micheners' (1935) remarks on the songs : 



The males have a set of summer songs and a set of winter songs and some 

 songs that seem to be the same in both summer and winter. * * * As prob- 

 ably the first indication of revival of activity after the molt, about the middle 

 of September, the males at mid-day from low thick bushes sing a soft, faint, 

 varied and beautiful song having no imitations in it. * * * The females 

 are quiet in the summer season. They join in the hew-hew notes and the rasping 

 notes of the pair in early summer. Beginning about mid-September, as the 

 depression of the molt wears away, the females sing a soft, faint song which can 

 scarcely be distinguished from the song of the immatures. * * * The young 

 birds sing a faint, soft song quite without imitations of other bird songs but 

 distinctly a mockingbird song. They seem absorbed in the production of song 

 and sing, usually at mid-day, for several days and then disappear. While 

 singing the birds perch in low, thick shrubbery, mounting higher as the days 

 go by but never do they sing from tree tops or other such high perches. At 

 least some individuals sing before, during, and after the molt. 



Enemies. — There seems to be no information available on the nat- 

 ural enemies of the western mockingbird, which are probably as 

 numerous as those of other passerine birds. It has served as host for 

 the eggs of the dwarf cowbird on several occasions, according to Dr. 

 Friedmann (1934). 



DUMETELLA CAROLINENSIS (Linnaeus) 

 CATBIRD 



Plates 61-65 



HABITS 

 CONTfilBUTED BY ALFRED OttO GkOSS 



The catbird is a stable species; throughout its extensive nesting 

 range from British Columbia to Quebec and south to the Gulf States 

 and the Bermuda Islands not a single subspecies has been recognized. 



