582 MOAT-HEN—MOCKING-BIRD 
exhibited by the tibiz of the two genera, that of Pachyornis being 
further distinguished from the corresponding bone of all the 
preceding members of the Family by the inflection of its distal end. 
The sternum (fig. 3, B) is likewise very different from that of the 
other forms, being very wide and flat, with broad and divergent 
lateral processes. The skulls found with the limb-bones of P. 
elephantopus near Oamaru Point, and transmitted with them to the 
British Museum, have pointed beaks, and there is much probability 
of their reference to this species by Owen being correct. P. 
elephantopus, of which the remains, often charred by fire, are 
extremely abundant near Oamaru Point, was a large species, the 
tibia measuring 24 inches in length ; but P. immanis was still larger, 
with a remarkably wide tarso-metatarsus. R. LYDEKKER. 
MOAT-HEN, an old name for the Moor-HEN. 
MOCKING-BIRD?! is the name given by naturalists and 
others to a number of birds that possess the power of imitating the 
notes of other species of the Class. Comparatively speaking, 
however, it almost exclusively applies to the Mocking-bird of 
America, the Mimus polyglottus of recent ornithologists. This re- 
markable bird is regarded by those who have investigated its 
structure as belonging to the Family 7'roglodytidx, a group containing 
the WRENS, THRASHERS (Harporhynchus), and their allies; a sub- 
family, Miminz, within this Family having been created to contain 
such birds as are represented in the United States by the last- 
named genus, as well as the genera Oreoscoptes, Mimus and Galeo- 
scoptes.” 
The most TurusuH-like forms among the Troglodytide are more 
or less closely related to the Zurdidz, the Family containing the typical 
Thrushes, and none more so than are the several genera above 
named. Indeed, many ornithologists regard the Mimine as being 
1 For this article on a subject which can only be fitly treated by an American 
ornithologist Iam again indebted to Dr. Shufeldt. The earlier English naturalists, 
Charleton, Ray and Catesby wrote the name ‘‘ Mock-bird” ; and in England 
either form, or more often ‘‘ Mock-Nightingale,” is occasionally given to the 
BuackeaP, Sylvia atricapilla, and the Sepcr-BirD. In India and Australia the 
name is sometimes applied to other species, and even in North America two 
Wrens, Thryothorus ludovicianus and T. bewicki seem to be widely known as 
** Mocking-birds.”—A. N. 
2 In this connexion see the paper by Mr. F. A. Lucas entitled Noles on the 
Osteology of the Thrushes, Miminz, and Wrens (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. vol. xi. 
1888), and two papers by the present writer, viz. On the Position of Chamexa in 
the System (Jour. Morph. vol. iii. No. 3, 1889, pp. 475-502), also Contributions to 
the Comparative Osteology of the Families of North American Passeres (Jour. 
Morph. vol. iii. No. 1, 1889, pp. 81-114). 
