16 "MIMUS POLYGLOTTUS. 



nearly all the other birds had left the island. I think they remained all winter, for I saw them 

 as late as the latter part of December ; I did not, however, meet with them at Miami until March 

 15th. One was picked up dead in Indian River, and brought to me, on April 1st, but they did 

 not become common there until the 20th of that month. 



They pass Massachusetts during the middle of May when they frequent the swamps. I found 

 them common iu June, at Lake Umbagog, Maine, in thick woods along the edges of water 

 courses ; where they generally remain concealed beneath the mass of fallen trees and thick 

 underbrush. Indeed, they are so shy, and so seldom leave these inaccessible places, that were 

 it not for the song of the males, one would scarcely believe that they were at all common there. 

 They breed in these swampy localities. The nest is placed beside a decaying, moss-covered 

 log, or at the foot of some tree, generally in the everlasting shadows of the thick evergreens. 

 It is seldom covered like that of the Oven Bird. While the female is sitting the male is 

 ever near, and the angler who invades this wilderness, so seldom trodden by man, in search 

 of the speckled trout, hears its indescribably sweet warbling song, sounding all the more 

 melodious because his curious eye fails to detect its author. So all through the long summer 

 days, amid the mountain valleys, this bird melody is mingled with the splash of cool waters, 

 and the gentle sighing of breezes, which come laden with the fragrance of hemlock and spruce. 



These birds are remarkable for their love of water, and are seldom seen far from it. They 

 are exceedingly active, and run very rapidly ; on this account they resemble the Sandpipers, 

 especially when they are feeding by the side of a pool or stream. They also have the habit 

 of jerking their tails iu a nervous manner. By the 1st of September they commence their 

 southern flight. While passing Massachusetts at this season they may be usually found 

 searching the bottom of recently dried up pools and ditches for insects, especially if these 

 places are overhung with bushes. They are but little tamer then than at other times, and upon 

 the slightest alarm will instantly dart into the nearest thicket. 



GENUS III. MIMUS. THE MOCKING BIEDS. 



GEN". Cir. Bill, equal in length to the head; straight, but with the tips of the upper mandible curved, and but slightly 

 notched. The stcrnvms differ from those of the Thrushes proper in being broader, and in having a lower keel ; the sternum 

 being twice as broad as the keel is high. The marginal indentations are also shallower; being only as deep as one-third 

 the length of the keel. 



MIMUS POLYGLOTTUS. 



Mocking Bird. 

 Mimns polijglottus BOIE. Isis, Oct. 1826, 972. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. CH. Form, slender. Tail, long. Bill, moderate, rather wide at base. Tarsus, distinctly scutellate. Sternum, 

 strongly built. Tongue, rather deeply cleft, with the forked portion ciliated on the ends and outer sides. 



COLOR. Adult. Above, ashy. Wings, brown ; base of all the primaries, their tips and edges, and tips of 

 secondaries, wing coverts, and the entire spurious wing, white ; the latter, however, has central stripes of brown. 

 The white extends over more than half the length of the inner quill feathers, but is more restricted on the outer. 

 Tail, very dark brown; the outer feathers, pure white; the next two white on the tip, and for one-half the terminal 

 length of the inner web. The next two are tipped with the same. Chin, white. King around the eye, a faint 

 superciliary line, and the remainder of under parts, dirty white, more dusky on the flanks, breast and tibia;. The 

 crown and ear coverts are sometimes streaked with dusky. The under tail coverts are generally tinged with pale 

 buff. Bill and feet black, with the base of the under mandible brown. Iricles, pale yellow. 



Young, similar, but with the white more restricted, and a reddish sutl'usion throughout. The flanks are streaked 

 with dusky. 



Young, in the nesting plumage, has the breast streaked with dusky. The white edgings of the scapulars are also 

 broader. 



