106 BinDS OF ILLINOIS. 



So well known are the habits and other characteristics of the 

 Mockiiig-ljinl that noarly all that could he written iiere would he 

 hut a repetition of what has been previously published. In Illinois, 

 as in many other States, its distriliution is very irregular, its absence 

 from certain localities apparently in every way suited to its require- 

 ments being very difficult to account for. Thus, while one or two 

 pairs breed in the outskirts of Mount Carmel nearly every season, 

 it is nowhere in that vicinity a common bird. Thirty miles further 

 north, however, in the neighborhood of Oliiey, where the country is 

 more open, I have found it almost abundant, on one occasion six 

 males having been seen and heard singing along the roadside dur- 

 ing a three miles drive from the town. 



Mr. H. K. Coale informs me that he saw a Mocking-bird in 

 Starke county, Indiana, 60 miles southeast of Chicago, January 1st, 

 1884; that ^Ir. (heen Smith had met with it at Kensington Station, 

 Illinois, and that several have been observed in the parks and door- 

 yards of Chicago. In the extreme southern portion of the State the 

 species is abundant in suitable localities, and is resident through 

 the year. 



While without a rival in variety of notes and unequalled in bril- 

 liancy of song, the Mocking-bird can scarcely be considered our 

 finest singer. Remarkable as are his powers of imitation, he cannot 

 reproduce the metallic harmony of the smaller Thrushes (HylocichUe), 

 and perhaps not even the trill of the Canary. To our mind, the 

 Brown Tbraslier has a sweeter song, and one equally vigorous ; but 

 there is a bold brilliancy to the vocal performance of Miinus that 

 is peculiarly his own, and which makes him chief of songsters. 



Genis GALEOSCOPTES Cabanis. 



OaldoscoDtes Cabanis, Mu9. Holn. I, ISTiii. k;. Type, Miiscicapa cnroUneiifis Linn. 



"Gen. Chab. Bill shorter than the heuU. rather broad at base. Rietal bristles moiler- 

 ately developeil, reachinR to the nostrils. Wings a little shorter than the tail, rounded; 

 secondaries well developed: fourth and llfth (mills longest; third and sixth a little shorlor; 

 llrst and ninth about eciual, and about the length of secondaries; first <iulll more than 

 half the second, about half the third. Tail craduated; lateral feather about .70 shorter 

 than the middle. Tarsi longer than middle too and claw by about an additional half- 

 claw; scutollute anteriorly, more or less distinctly In didereut specimens; scutellic about 

 seven. 



■yrhe conspicuous naked membranous border round the eye of some Thrushes, with 

 the bare space behind It, not appreciable. 



"There is little difference in form between the single species of 

 Galcuscoptes and Mimtts pohjglottus, beyond the less degree of defini- 



