iV] Allen oh a New Species of Icterus. .343 



Mimus polyglottos. Mockingbird. 



The power of song in this bird is a subject that never ceases to 

 be interesting. My observations on the subject lead me to con- 

 clude that the great majority are not very gifted singers, and that 

 the wonderful variety of notes so often described is possessed by 

 a small percentage only. 



Surrounded by orange groves, which are a favorite haunt of 

 the Mocker, our home was amongst dozens of Mockingbirds, but 

 only two seemed to be great singers. Later we moved to a new 

 place, two miles further from Sanford, and there there was but one 

 great singer among the Mockingbirds of that neighborhood. 

 The cries of the Sparrow Hawk and the Loggerhead Shrike 

 seem to be possessed by all, but whenever I heard one utter any 

 other note it seemed striking. A Mockingbird that frequented 

 our place imitated the Blue Jay, Bob-white, Sparrow Hawk, 

 Red-shouldered Hawk, Cardinal and Bluebird, besides having 

 its own individual song. The same bird imitated a chicken in 

 distress so perfectly that I several times believed a Hawk had 

 visited the hen-yard. 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF ICTERUS 

 FROM ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS. 



BY J. A. ALLEN. 



Through the kindness of Mr. John I. Northrop, of the School 

 of Mines, Columbia College, New York, I have the pleasure of 

 making known a new species of Icterus from Andros Island, 

 one of the larger islands of the Bahaman group. During four 

 months spent recently on Andros Island, Mr. and Mrs. Northrop 

 devoted much attention to birds, collecting about seventy species, 

 among them several new to the Bahamas, as well as the novelty 

 about to be described, which adds not only a new genus to the 

 Bahaman fauna, but a new species to science. The species is 

 represented by nine specimens, three of which are adult males, 



