THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 

 ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. xxviii. July. 1911. No. 3. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOCKINGBIRD IN 

 CALIFORNIA. 



BY JOSEPH GKINNELL. 1 



With map. 



Probably the passerine bird most favorably and extensively 

 known to the people of California is the Western Mockingbird 

 (Mimus polyglottos leucopterus). This species has earned its repu- 

 tation by its song of extraordinary loudness and persistency, so 

 that more than any other native bird of the same habitat has it 

 impressed its hearers with its presence. The occurrence of the 

 Mockingbird is associated in the popular mind with the orange 

 groves of southern California. The following distributional study 

 shows this idea to be based upon a good deal of fact. 



The northernmost known occurrence of the Mockingbird in 

 California is in the upper Sacramento Valley, a little below the 40th 

 parallel of latitude: An individual is recorded as having been ob- 

 served at Chico, Butte County, February 10, 1884 (Belding, Land 

 Birds Pac. Dist., Sept., 1890, p. 226). Next south of this point 

 its presence has been noted at Gridley, Butte County, July 22, 1885 

 (Belding, 1. c). At Marysville, Yuba County, and Marysville 

 Buttes, Sutter County, the Mockingbird was formerly found nest- 

 ing (Belding, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 1879, p. 396; Belding, 

 Land Birds Pac. Dist., Sept., 1890, p. 226). The above four records 



1 A contribution from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of 

 California. 



293 



