AVERY BIRD COLLECTION 127 



One has but to hear the feeble efforts at song of the 

 young males of the first season to perceive the difference. 

 Several years ago there was an adult male, however, 

 that made the most discordant sounds ; his song, if that 

 can be called song, which was a repetition for hours at a 

 time of the same monotonous noise, such as *chay ! chay ! 

 chay ! chay !' prolonged indefinitely in the same key, was 

 the only music he ever produced. I often asked myself : 

 *Is that bird an idiot, or is his musical apparatus defec- 

 tive'?" (1891c). 



A set of four eggs of the mocking-bird was taken from 

 a hawthorn, about three feet from the ground, near 

 Greensboro, April 25, 1888. The eggs measured: .91 by 

 .72, .89 by .71. .94 by .70, and .95 by .71. 



Young mockingbirds one-third grown were recorded on 

 the 28th of April, 1891, in the Doctor's journal. 



Among the Doctor's Baldwin County notes, Sept. 16th 

 to Oct. 2nd, 1892, is the following : "Mockingbirds were 

 abundant ; there were many seen ; near Pensacola, in fact 

 in the incorporated limits of the town, hundreds were 

 seen feeding on pokeberries." 



It is an interesting fact that the label of the unnum- 

 bered specimen cited below bears this note : "Collected by 

 C. hudsonius." 



No Male. juv. Greensboro. Sept. 17, 1889. W. C. Avery. 



No. 315. Male. Greensboro. Dec. 13, 1889. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 320. Male. Greensboro. Dec. 20, 1889. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 528. Fem-^le. Greensboro. June 2, 1890. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 1086. Male. Greensboro. Oct. 10, 1893. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 1110. Female. Greensboro. Dec. 30, 1893. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 1111. Male. Greensboro. Mar. 5, 1894. W. C. Avery. 



The last named specimen was the last bird collected 

 by Dr. Avery. It is significant of his activity as an ornith- 

 ologist that this specimen was taken just six days be- 

 fore his death. 



195. DUMETELLA CAROLINENSIS (Linnaeus). 

 Catbird. 



This species is entirely omitted from Dr. Avery's list, 

 "Birds Observed in Alabama," though a number of speci- 

 mens fell to his gun. Besides his Hale County records. 



