CINCLIDAE 519 



chief; the natural song being rich, varied, and powerful, and the 

 imitations ranging from the yelp of the Eagle to the noises of 

 the farm-yard. It is found from the United States to Mexico 

 and the Antilles, where in isolated trees, hedges, or brambles it 

 makes a bulky platform of rough twigs to support the cup of 

 roots, wool, and so forth, which contains the four to six pale 

 greenish-blue — or rarely huffish — eggs, with brown and purplish 

 markings. The movements are energetic but graceful, the flight 

 Thrush-like ; the food consists of insects, often taken in the air, 

 and fruit. Mimus modulator, the " Calandria," of Argentina, 

 Brazil, and Bolivia, feeds chiefly on the ground, and can hardly 

 be said to mock, though M. triurus of the same countries does so. 

 Galcoscoptes carolinensis, the Cat-bird, besides an attractive song, 

 utters clucks, whistles, and mewing sounds ; it feeds chiefly on 

 insect-larvae, and deposits from three to Ave deep greenish-blue 

 eggs in a nest of twigs, bark, and plant-stalks lined with grass. 

 Oreoscoptes, of the Nortli American sage-brush districts, resembles 

 Mimus in its habits, nest, and eggs, but is no mimic ; nor, it may 

 be added, are the shy Thrashers (ITaiyorhynchus), which commonly 

 haunt arid situations, placing their large, flattish nest of coarse 

 twigs, leaves, fibres, bark, grass, and moss, lined with softer materials, 

 in low^ trees or thorny scrub. Their three to six eggs are white, 

 bluish, greenish, or buff, with yellowish, purplish, or red-brown 

 spots or specks, those of the more terrestrial H. crissalis being 

 uniform pale greenish -blue. Donacohins frequents reeds, but 

 possibly does not belong to this group ; MelanoptUa has a harsh 

 or mewing note, and lays blue eggs, as does Melanotis. 



Fam. VIII. Cinclidae. — The Dippers or Water-Ousels form a 

 single genus, Cinchis, probably more akin to the Wrens than to 

 the Thrushes. The Ijill is moderate and straight, without bristles 

 at the gape, the maxilla being slightly curved and notched ; the 

 smooth metatarsi are fairly long and strong ; the wings are 

 abbreviated, rounded, and concave ; the tail is extremely short, 

 and the whole body peculiarly squat-looking. The colour above 

 is normally greyish-black or brown, C. ardesiacvs being, however, 

 delicate grey ; the lower parts are similar or white, commonly with 

 a black belly, while a chestnut band crosses the breast in the 

 British 0. aquaticus and in C. cdhicollis. White spots often occur 

 above and below the eye ; C. leuconotus and C. leticocephalvs have 

 nearly white heads, and the former shews white on the back. 



