SUPPLEMENT TO BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY 171 



307 [704] Dumetella carolinensis (Linn.)- 



Catbird. 

 Very common summer resident. April 2^ to October 27. 

 Eggs: May 23 to June 20. 



Tlie Catbird is not as good a mimic as the Mockingbird, but I find in my notes 

 that I have recorded the following birds that he has imitated : Yellow-legs, King- 

 fisher, Bob-white, Flicker, Blue Jay, Goldfinch, Barn Swallow, Wood Thrush, 

 Veery, and Robin. 



The song is sometimes given in flight. He frequently flirts his tail and dis- 

 plays on rear view the chestnut-red lower tail-coverts. 



308 [705] Toxostoma rufum (Linn.). 



Brown Thrasher; Brown Thrush. 



Common summer resident (winter). (March 30, April 6) April 30 to Octo- 

 ber 26 (November 14, February and March). 



The March 30 record is of a bird seen at Howe's Landing, Danvers, in 1918, 

 by Mr. Ralph Lawson. A bird was seen at Swampscott on November 14, 1918, 

 by Mr. Mosley. At Methuen, during February and March, 1919, a Brown 

 Thrasher was observed by Mrs. F. Schneider. 



The continuous sweet and varied song of this bird, full of surprises, com- 

 pares very favorably with that of the Mockingbird. Unlike the song of that bird 

 it rarely contains harsh and disagreeable notes. 



309 [718] Thryothorus ludovicianus ludovicianus (Lath.). 

 Carolina Wren. 

 Accidental visitor from the South and very rare summer resident. 



In the original Memoir there is only one record for this bird from the County, 

 and that bird was shot at once. In the last fifteen years a number of birds have 

 visited the County, one pair at least has bred, they have been seen by numerous 

 bird-lovers, and none as far as I know has been molested. 



In 1908 and 1909, there was an invasion of Carolina Wrens into New Eng- 

 land and I was able to collect a considerable number of instances for all of the 

 States.^ 



1 Townsend, C. W. Auk, vol. 26, p. 263-269, igog. 



