THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. I79 



altitudes of the Rocky Mountains from Colorado northward 

 where it is said to nest on the ground above timber line. It 

 winters in the southern portion of the United States and south- 

 ward through Mexico and Central America to Guatemala. 



FAMILY MIMIDM: THEASHEES, ETC. 

 Genus MIMUS Boie, 1826. 



Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus). Mockingbird. 



Turdus polyglottos LiNN^trs, S. N., ed. 10, I, 1758, 169. 

 Turdus polyglottus Gmblin, S. N., I, 1788, 812. 

 Mimus polyglottus Bonapabtb, Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, 17. 

 Popular synonym : Southern Mockingbibd. 



The Mockingbird is certainly a very rare visitant to our 

 area. The history of its occurrence within our limits is shown, 

 so far as I have been able to obtain the information, by the follow- 

 ing records : Mr. Robert Kennicott reports it as rare, and states 

 that it is known to nest in Cook County.* Mr. E. W. Nelson 

 says:f "A very rare summer resident. I know of but few in- 

 stances of its occurrence in the vicinity of Chicago. Dr. Hoy has 

 recorded six nests obtained in the vicinity of Racine, Wisconsin." 

 In his report on the birds of Illinois,t Mr. Robert Ridgway gives 

 the following information: "Mr. H. K. Coale informs me that 

 he saw a Mockingbird in Starke County, Indiana, sixty miles 

 southeast of Chicago, January i, 1884; that Mr. Green Smith had 

 met with it at Kensington Station, Illinois, and that several 

 have been observed in the parks and dooryards of Chicago." Mr. 

 H. K. Coale has sent me the following note: "On August 30, 

 1876, I found a dead full grown Mockingbird under a tree in 

 Chicago, a heavy rain during the night before having probably 

 killed it. It was evidently not a cage bird." A valuable record 

 which I have is that of Dr. Joseph L. Hancock, of Chicago, who 

 has kindly sent me the following interesting notes: "On April 

 29, 1902, in the south end of South Park, Chicago, I noticed a 

 Mockingbird on the ground in the mowed grass. When ap- 

 proaching near the spot where the bird was foraging, it became 

 frightened and flew across the driveway finally alighting in a tree. 

 The bird was in beautiful fresh plumage, it probably being a male, 

 because of the bright coloring and the large white patches on 



*Trans. Illinois State Agri. Society, Vol. I, 1853-1854, 58^. 



tBirds of Northeastern Illinois. Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol VIII 1876 <I4 



tOrnithology of Illinois, Vol. I, 1889, 105. ,ioiu, ;>*. 



