54 DESCRIPTION OF THE MOCKINGBIRD 



wintering). Ooues, Pr. Phila. Acad. xxiii. 1871, 19 (North Carolina). Parker, Am. Nat. 

 v. 1871, 168. Boardm. Am. Nat. v. 1871, 121. Grayson, Pr. Boat. Soc. xiv. 1872, 277 

 (Tres Marias Islands). Mayn. B. Fla. 1872, 16. Coues, Key, 1872, 74, f. 16 Allen, Bull. 

 MCZ. iii. 1872, 134 (Kansas). Purdie, Am. Nat. vii. 1873, 693. Ooues, BNW. 1874, 8. 

 Merr. Am. Nat. viii. 1874, 7, 8, 86. Coop. Am. Nat. viii. 1874, 17. B. B. <V R. NAB. i. 



1874, 49, fig. pi. iii. f. 4.Hensk. Rep. Orn. Specs. 1874, 97. Brew. Pr. Boat. Soc. xvii. 



1875, 438 (New England). Hensh. Zool. Expl. W. 100 Merid. 1876, 151. 



Orpheus pOlyfflOttUS, Sw. Zool. Journ. iii. 1827, 167. And. Syn. 1839, 87. And. BA.ii.1841, 



187, pi. 138. Denny, PZS. 1847, 38.Gerhardt, Naum. iii. 1853, 37 (song). Wailes, Rep. 



Mississippi, 1854, 319. Pratten, Tr. III. Agric. Soc. 1855, 601 (Illinois). Henry, Pr 



Phila. Acad. vii. 1855, 310 (New Mexico). 



Merinus polyglottus, Baird, Ives' Rep. Colorado, pt. vi. 1861, 5 (lapsu). 

 Orpheus leucopterus, Vig. Zool. Voy. Bloss. 1839, 18. 

 Mimus leucopterus, Baird, Stansbury's Rep. GSL. 1852, 328. 

 Orpheus polygothus, Putn. Pr. Essex last. i. 1856, 224 (lapsu). 

 Mimus CanadatUS, Baird, BNA. 1858, 345 (err. for "caudatus"). 

 Mimus caudatus, Xant. Pr. Phila. Acad. xi. 1859, 191 (California). Coop. Am. Nat. iii. 1869, 



186. Coop. Pr. Cal. Acad. 1870. 75. 

 MiniUS pOlyglOttUS -car. caudatUS, Coues, Ibis, 1865, 533 (Arizona). Eidg. Bull. Essex lust. 



v. 1873, 179 (Colorado). 



Oreoscoptes montanus!, Coues, ibis. 1865, 164 (lapsu). 

 Mimic Thrush, Penn. AZ. ii. 1785, 333, no. 194 and 194 B (young). 

 Mockingbird, Vulg. 

 Merle moqueur, French. 



SpottYOgel, German. 



HAB. United States, southerly, from Atlantic to Pacific. North regu- 

 larly to the Middle States, sometimes to Massachusetts and Wisconsin. 

 Northerly portions of Mexico. Cuba ? 



CH. SP. $ 2 Griseus, infra sordlde albm ; alls fuscis spat to 

 alba, cauddfusco alboque dimidiatd, rostro pedibusque nigris. 



$ , adult : Upper parts ashy-gray, the lower parts soiled white. Wings 

 blackish-brown, the primaries, with the exception of the first, marked with 

 a large white space at the base, restricted on the outer quills usually to half 

 or less of these feathers, but occupying nearly all of the inner quills. The 

 shorter white spaces show as a conspicuous spot when the wing is closed, 

 the longer inner ones being hidden by the secondaries. The coverts are also 

 tipped and sometimes edged with white ; and there may be much edging or 

 tipping, or both, of the quills themselves. Outer tail-feathers white ; next 

 two pair white, except on the outer web ; next pair usually white toward 

 the end, and the rest sometimes tipped with white. Bill and feet black, the 

 former often pale at the base below; soles dull yellowish. Length about 10 

 inches, but rangingfrom9i to 11; extent about 14 (13 to 15) ; wing, 4-4^; tail, 

 4f-5 ; bill, f ; tarsus, 1. 



9 , adult : Similar to the male, but the colors less clear and pure ; above 

 rather brownish than grayish ash, below sometimes quite brownish-white, 

 at least on the breast. Tail and wings with less white than as above de- 

 scribed for the male. But the gradation in these features is by impercepti- 

 ble degrees, so that there is no infallible color-mark of sex. In general, the 

 clearer and purer are the colors, and the more white there is on the wings 

 and tail, the more likely is the bird to be a male and prove a good singer. The 

 female is also smaller than the male on an average, being generally under 



