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FAMILY TURDINiG, 



THRUSHES. 



GENUS ORPHEUS — SWAINSON. 



MOCKING BIRD. 



[Bill of moderate length, upper mandible curved, declinate at tip, notched — ■ • 

 body slender — wings rounded — tail very long, much rounded,] 



ORPHEUS POL YGLOTTUS— LINN. 

 GRAY MOCKING BIRD. 



Mocking Bird, Turdus polyglottus, Wils. Amer. Orn. 

 Turdus polyglottus, Bonap. Syn. 

 Mocking Bird, Turdus polyglottus, Nutt. Man. 

 Mocking Bird, Turdus polyglottus, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character — Tips of wing coverts, basal parts of primaries, 

 outer tail feathers, larger portion of the next and a patch on the 

 inner web of the third, white. Adult male with the upper parts 

 lio'ht gray, tinged with yellowish-brown ; lower parts grayish-white, 

 the breast darker ; wings and tail brownish-black ; primary cov- 

 erts white, as are the primary quills toward their bases ; first and 

 second row of wing coverts tipped with the same ; tail long, round- 

 ed, the outer feather pure white ; the larger portion of the next, and 

 a patch on the inner web of the third, and the tips of all excepting 

 the middle pair, white. Female with the plumage duller, the white 

 markings on the wings less extensive. Length of male nine inch- 

 es and a half, wing four and three-eighths. 



Although a constant resident in the Southern States, this unri- 

 valled songster occasionally passes the season of re-production on 

 Long Island. The nest is placed among the briars — and, when 



