320 Dr. C. Chrhty— Field-Notes 



throughout the greater part of the day. Compared witli 

 that of our English birds^ tlie song is distinctly Thrush-like, 

 but far more continuous, varied, and beautiful. 



There is little or nothing of the bird's mocking-habits to 

 be detected in its song in the wild state, but when caged 

 there seems to be no limit to its powers of mimicry. It 

 copies the whistles, the songs, and the various noises to be 

 heard in the streets, the barking of a dog, the neighing of a 

 horse, and the songs of other birds, all the while sitting still 

 on its perch till it catches one's eye ; then, as it hops about 

 its cage in a restless sort of manner, it suddenly comes out 

 with one of its best imitations, and when one turns away 

 will probably begin to pour out its own well-known song, as 

 if in hopes of detaining one a little longer. The natives are 

 very fond of rearing this bird from the nest, and when so 

 reared I think the Ruisenor must truly be one of the most 

 interesting and companionable of all cage-birds. 



A nestling was brought to me as early as March 7, and I 

 saw young in the nest in April. On May 16, at La Vega, 

 I shot an adult male, one of a pair whose nest with three 

 eggs I found close by. It was built about two feet from the 

 ground, concealed among the young shoots growing from 

 the stump of a felled tree in a clearing. The nest and eggs 

 that I saAV were not unlike those of our Missel-Thrush, but 

 the nest is very variable. When placed, as it often is, at the 

 end of a branch of an orange- or other tree, 10 or 15 feet 

 from the ground, and frequently quite close to a house, 

 it is small, flat, and with untidy twigs sticking out in all 

 directions. 



3. Dendrceca coronata. 



(Cory, op. cit. p. 30.) 



Common among the scrub-willow and undergrowth on 

 the banks of the river Yuna and in the Sanchez district, but 

 I rarely observed it in the interior. Of two specimens 

 obtained, an adult male was shot on Feb. 19 and another 

 Feb. 27. 



