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BIRDS OF AMERICA 



dusky or grayish on outer web ; second, with outer web 

 mostly blackish, the inner web mostly white ; third, 

 blackish or dusky, with about half of the terminal and 

 basal portions white ; a very indistinct stripe over eye 

 of pale gray; eyelids, grayish-white; lores, dusky; 

 sides of head, grayish, indistinctly streaked witli 

 whitish ; space below the eyes and cheeks, dull white, 

 usually faintly barred or transversely flecked with 

 grayish or dusky ; chin and throat, dull white, margined 

 along each side by a dusky streak ; chest and sides of 

 breast, pale smoke-gray, passing into a more buffy hue 

 on sides and flanks, the under tai!-coverts, pale buff ; 

 abdomen and center of breast, white ; bill, black. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Composed of twigs, 

 grasses and weeds, lined with fine rootlets, moss, and 

 sometimes cotton : placed in many different locations 



but usually in a deep bramble thicket, or hedge; as a 

 rule they are located within ten feet of the ground, 

 never on it, and have been seen built fifty feet above 

 the earth. Egc.s : 4 to 6, bluish-green heavily freckled 

 with several shades of brown. 



Distribution. — liastern United States ; northward, 

 regularly (but locally), to Maryland, southern Ohio, 

 southern half of Indiana and Illinois, Missouri, etc., 

 irregularly to Massachusetts, southeastern New York 

 (Long Island, etc.). New Jersey, Pennsylvania, northern 

 Indiana and Illinois, and Iowa, sporadically to Maine, 

 Ontario, southern Wisconsin (breeding), and southern 

 Minnesota; breeding and resident throughout its range, 

 e-xcept where occurring accidentally ; southward to 

 southern Florida and along the Gulf to eastern Texas, 

 and to the Baliamas ; introduced into Bermuda (1893). 



The Mockingbird stands unrivaled. He is the 

 king of song. This is a trite saying, but how- 

 much it really means can be known only to those 



where, apparently, he listened and took mental 

 notes of the performance, giving the next day, 

 a week later, or at midnight an entertainment of 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



MOCKINGBIRD (J nat. size" 

 In improvization or mimicry, the most versatile and brilliant of Amerii 



who have heard this most gifted singer uncaged 

 and at his best in the lowlands of the Southern 

 .States. He equals and even excels the whole 

 feathered choir. He improves upon most of the 

 notes that he reproduces, adding also to his varied 

 repertoire the crowing of chanticleer, the cack- 

 ling of the hen, the barking of the house dog, 

 the squeaking of the unoiled wheelbarrow, the 

 postman's whistle, the plaints of young chickens 

 and turkeys and those of young wild birds, not 

 neglecting to mimic those of his own offspring. 

 He even imitates man's musical inventions. Eliza- 

 beth and Joseph Grinnell assert that a Mocking- 

 bird was attracted to a graphophone on the lawn 



his own and then repeating it w'ith the exact 

 graphophone ring. Even the notes of the piano 

 have been reproduced in some cases and the bird's 

 vocalization simulates the lightning changes of 

 the kaleidoscope. 



The Mocker is more or less a buffoon, but 

 those who look upon him only as an imitator 

 or clown have much to learn of his wonderful 

 originality. His own song is heard at its best 

 at the height of the love season, when the singer 

 flutters into the air from some tall tree-top 

 and improvises his music, pouring out all the 

 power and energy of his being in such an ecstasy 

 of song that, exhausting his strength in the su- 



