C. IT. Merriam Birds of Connecticut. 7 



Sept. 4th (1874, Hall) to Oct. 13th. In the fall it is not uncommonly 

 found in flocks of a dozen or fifteen in low swampy woods where 

 there is an abundance of undergrowth. 



4a. Turdus Swainsoni, var. Alicise (Baird) Coues. Gray-cheeked Thrush. 



Occurs, during migrations, with the foregoing, and is more common 

 in the vicinity of New Haven judging from the proportionate num- 

 ber of skins in private collections about here. Near Portland, Conn., 

 on the contrary, the true Sioainsoni type seems to predominate as 

 shown by specimens in the cabinets of W. W. Coe and John H. Sage. 



5. TurdllS fuscescens Stephens. Wilson's Thrush. 



A summer resident; breeds. Arrives early in May (May 8). Com- 

 mon in the immediate vicinity of New Haven, especially during the 

 spring migrations. 



6. MiniUS pOlyglottUS (Linne) Boie. Mocking-bird. 



A rare summer visitant ; used to breed here and may occasionally* 

 do so now. Mr. Geo. Bird Grinnell has taken it near Milford, Conn. 

 Mr. Erwin I. Shores writes me, on the authority of Milton Lester, 

 that it has been killed at Suffield, Conn. Mr. J. N. Clark thinks that 

 it bred pretty regularly at Saybrook, Conn., many years ago ; and I 

 am informed by Mr. Osborne that he saw one above the Whitney 

 Lakes, near New Haven, May 30th, 1877. Also taken late in the fall 

 of 1874, by Mr. William Brewster, near Concord, Mass.f " Stratford 

 and New Haven," Linsley. 



There can be little doubt but that Mocking-birds were once com- 

 mon in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, if not still 

 farther north. In an appendix to the Mass. Agricultural Report for 

 1863, Samuels gives it as a "rare summer visitant," stating that it 

 "occasionally breeds;" and in 1864 Allen says that they "have been 

 known to breed in Springfield several times within five years, and in 

 1860 two pairs nested here. June 20th, 1860, I found a nest contain- 

 ing three freshly laid eggs Locality, a sandy field growing 



up to pitch pines, in one of which the nest was placed, about three 

 feet from the ground.''^ 



* A Catalogue of the Birds of Connecticut, arranged according to their natural 

 families ; by Kev. James H. Linsley, published in Am. Jour, of Sci. and Arts, 

 vol. xliv, No. 2, p. 255. April, 1843. 



f Rod and Gun, vol. v, No. 24, p. 370, Mar. 13, 1875. 



\ Catalogue of the Birds found at Springfield, Mass., by J. A. Allen, pp. 67-8. 1864. 



