FAMILY Mimide. 
Mockingbird is brownish gray; upper parts ashen gray, 
lower parts dull white or gray-white, the throat a little 
clearer, wings mostly dull sepia black with a distinct 
white bar, i.e. the basal portion of the primaries which , 
in flight, show a broad white patch; outer tail feathers 
mostly white, the extreme feather entirely so, upper sur- 
face of the tail sepia-black. Nest of coarse twigs, roots, 
grasses, and bits of cotton, lodged in thickets and orange 
trees. Egg, pale green-blue heavily flecked with brown. 
The notes of the Mockingbird are very similar to those 
of the Brown Thrasher but are subject to greater variation, 
and in large part are imitations of the notes of other birds. 
The song of the bird in captivity is not essentially different 
from that in its wild state. In the far South the singing 
begins in February and continues unremittingly through 
all the spring, quantity rather than quality characterizing 
the exuberant music which swings absolutely clear of 
confining scales. In a word, it is untrammeled and wild 
when it is not in distinct imitation of another singer. The 
song is occasionally heard in the vicinity of New York 
and Boston. Mr. Henry W. Porter writes to me, “In 
April, 1912, a pair of Mockingbirds was observed in Quincy, 
Mass.; they stayed through the following summer and 
into the winter. The next spring they came again, but 
disappeared and have not been seen since. They fre- 
quented a thicket—perhaps two hundred yards from the 
nearest house—somewhat swampy, with a little brook: 
running through, and a pine grove nearby. The nest was 
never found; but the birds used to come up near the houses 
and sing.”’ 
American Our Robin is unrelated to the English Robin 
seule Redbreast (Erythaca rubecula), and is a bird 
nape atid of distinctly different character and habits. 
L.10.00inches Nor is he very similar in coloring. Head 
March 1oth, or sepia-black ; upper parts slate gray; tail 
allthe year = sepia-black, the outer feathers with a 
white spot at the tip; eyelids and a spot above the eye 
white; throat white flecked with black; under parts 
ruddy burnt sienna ; extreme under parts white. Female 
similarly but lighter colored ; the head slate gray. Nest 
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