TROGLODYTID.E — MIMIN.E : MOCKINGBIRDS. 



283 



graduated; wing rounded. Tarsus longer than middle toe and claw. Above ashy-brown, be- 

 low wliite ; lateral tail-feathers and bases of primaries white. (Tarsal scutella always distinct.) 

 M. polyglot'tus. (Lat. polijglottus, many-tongued ; Gr. ttoXvs, poliis, many; yXarra, glotta, 

 tongue. Fig. 143.) Mockingbird. ^J, adult: Upper parts ashy-gray; lower parts soiled 

 white. Wings blackish-brown ; 

 primaries, except the Jst, marked 

 with a large white space at base, 

 usually restricted on outer quills 

 to half or less of these feathers, 

 but occupying nearly all of inner 

 quills. The shorter white spaces 

 show as a conspicuous spot when 

 the wing is closed, the longer inner 

 ones being hidden by the second- 

 aries. Wing-coverts also tipped 

 and sometimes edged with white ; 

 and there may be much edging 

 or tipping, or both, of the quills 

 themselves. Outer tail-feather 

 wliite; next two white, except on 

 outer wel> ; next usually white 

 toward end ; the rest sometimes 

 tipped with white. Bill and feet 

 black, the former often pale at 

 base below ; soles dull yellowish. 



Fio. 1-13. — Mockingbird, about § nat. size. (After Wilson.) 



Length about 10.00 (9.50-11.00); extent about 14.00 (13.00-15.00); wing 4.00-4.50; tail 

 4.50-5.00; bill 0.75; tarsus 1.25. 9 j adult: Similar, but colors less clear and pure; above 

 rather brownish- than grayish-ash, below sometimes quite brownish-white, at least on breast. 

 Tail and wings with less white than as above described. But the gradation in these features 

 is by imperceptible degrees, so that there is no infallible color-mark of sex. In general, the 

 clearer and purer are the colors, and the more white there is on the wings and tail, the more 

 likely is the bird to be a (J and prove a good singer. 9 filso smaller than ^ on an average, 

 generally under and rarely over 10.00 ; extent usually less than 14.00 ; wing little if any over 

 4.00; tail about 4.50. Young: Above decidedly brown, and below speckled with dusky. 

 U. S. from Atlantic to Pacific, .southerly; rarely N. to New England (Maine, Am. Nat., v, 

 1871, p. 121, Auk, 1897, p. 224), and not common N. of 38°, though known to reach 42°; 

 thronging the groves of the S. Atlantic and Gulf States. Nest in bushes and low trees, bulky 

 and inartistic, of twigs, grasses, leaves, etc.; eggs 4-6, averaging 1.00 X 0.75, bluish-green, 

 lieavily speckled and freckled with several brownish shades. Two or three broods are gen- 

 erally reared each season, which in the South extends from March to August. When taken 

 from the nest, the "prince of musicians" becomes a contented captive, and has been known to 

 live many years in confinement. Naturally an accomplished songster, he proves an apt scholar, 

 suscejjtible of im])rovement by education to an astonishing degree; but there is a great differ- 

 ence with individual birds in this respect. 



OALKOSC'OP'TKS. (Gr. yaKtr} or yaXij, galee or gale, an animal of the weasel or marten 

 kind kTiown to the ancients, commonly later translated "cat," and (tkwitttis, skoptes, a mocker.) 

 ('ATBiRns. Characters of Mimus proper, of which given as a subgenus in former eds. of the 

 Key, and best distinguished by color: Blackish-ash, scarcely paler below, no white anywhere, 

 crown black, crissum reddish. (Tarsal scutella .sometimes obs(dete.) (Lwcffr Bartram, Trav., 

 1791, p. 291 his: see Coue.s, Pr. Phila. Acad., 1875, p. 349, and Auk, Jan. 1897, p. 97.) 



