1108 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



have practiced on nearly all the bird songs and calls in the neighbor- 

 hood and confidently undertakes their reproduction. The Mocking- 

 bird prefers the neighborhood of residences, the vicinity of orchards, 

 groves and trees along fences. Sometimes it builds in vines about 

 houses. When a pair take up their residence about a farm-house, they 

 are valuable in assisting in keeping predaceous birds away. They are 

 great fighters. No Hawk or Crow can come about the premises with- 

 out a conflict. They are also valuable as insect destroyers. Through- 

 out the breeding season and, in fact, all summer long, they live chiefly 

 upon insects. Prof. Forbes noted that sixty per cent, of those he 

 examined consisted of orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.). They 

 .also had eaten spiders, harvestmen, beetles, including curculios, bugs 

 and ants. 



There was no evidence that they had eaten fruit (Bulletin Xo. 3, 

 111. S. Lab., K". H., pp. 415, 416). Fifteen specimens examined by 

 Mr. Judd were principally taken in autumn and winter, when the 

 proportion of vegetable food is the greatest. Of this food they had 

 eaten "the skin and pulp of some large fruit, together with seeds or 

 berries of sumac, smilax, black alder, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, red 

 cedar, pokeberry, mulberry and bayberry. The animal food consisted 

 wholly of spiders and insects. Among the latter were ants, caterpil- 

 lars, beetles and grasshoppers" (Year Book U. S. Dept. of Agr., 1895, 

 pp. 415, 416). 



166. GENUS GALEOSCOPTES CAB AXIS. 



'296. (704). Galeoscoptes carolinensis (XiNN.). 



Cat Bird. 



Adult. Above, dark slate-color: somewhat lighter below; crown 

 of head and tail, black; wings, but little shorter than tail; under tail- 

 coverts, dark chestnut. 



Length, 8.00-9.35; wing, 3.45-3.75; tail, 3.70-4.25. 



EANGE. E. North America, from Panama and Cuba north to Brit- 

 ish Columbia and Saskatchewan; rare west of Kocky Mountains. 

 Breeds from Gulf States north. Winters from Illinois south. 



Nest, in bush or low in tree; of twigs, bark, grass, leaves, strings and 

 rags. Eggs, 4-5; bluish-green; .98 by .75. 



The Catbird is too well known a summer resident to require an 

 account of its habits. He goes little farther south than our southern 

 boundary, as it is sometimes a winter resident in southern Illinois. 

 Every boy who lives in the country or ranges the fields near some 

 small town knows this plainly-clad , many-voiced bird, and can give a 



