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U. S. P, E. B EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL EEPOET. 



longitudinal ridges seen in most of the species of Harporhynchus. The tail is less graduated 

 and shorter ; the feet appear less stout ; the wings are rather longer. 

 The sub-genera are as follows : 



MiMUS. — Culmen much curved from the base. Wings considerably shorter than the tail, 

 which is a good deal graduated. First primary half the second. 



Olive gray above ; beneath whitish ; wings and tail black; the base of primaries and the 

 tips of the tail white polyglottus. 



G-ALEOSCOPTES. — Much like Mimus. Wings a little shorter than the tail. 



Plumbeous, paler beneath ; crissum brownish orange. Top of head and tail blackish 

 brown caroUnensis, 



Comparative measurements of species. 



II, 1810, 14 ; pi. X, f. 1.— Bon. Syn. 

 pi. 21. 



MIMUS POLYGLOTTUS, Boie. 



Mocking Bird. 



Turdus polyglottus, Linnaeus, Byst. Nat, I, 1766, 993. — Wilson, Am. Dm. 

 1828, 76.— Add. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 108 : V, 1839, 438 ; 

 Mimus polyglottus, Boie, Isis, Oct 1826, 972.— Bon. List, 1838.— Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 276. 



Orpheus polyglottus, Swainson, Zool Jour. Ill, 1827, 167.— A d. Syn. 1839.— Ib. Birds Am. II, 1841, 187 ; pi. 137. 

 ? Orpheus leucopterus, Vigors, Zool. Beechey's Voyage, 1839. 



Sp. Ch. — Third to sixth quills nearly equal ; second shorter than seventh. Tail considerably graduated. Above ashy brown, 

 the feathers very bbsoletely darker centrally, and towards the light plumbeous downy basal portion, (scarcely appreciable, 

 except when the feathers are lifted.) The under parts are white, with a faint brownish tinge, except on the chin, and 

 with a shade of ash across the breast. There is a pale superciliary stripe, but the lores are dusky. The wings and tail are nearly 

 black, except the lesser wing coverts, which are like the back ; the middle and greater tipped with white, forming- two bands ; 

 the basal portion of thte primaries white ; most extended on the inner primaries. The outer tail feather is white ; the second is 

 mostly white, except on the outer web and towards the base ; the third with a white spot on the end ; the rest, except the 

 middle, very slightly tipped with white. The bill and legs are black. Length, 9.50 ; wing, 4.50 ; tail, 5.00 



Hub. — Southern United States from Atlantic tu high central plains. Perhaps replaced by another species to the B&cific. 



This species varies somewhat in color with the specimen. The white at the base of the quills 

 shows only on the more exterior primaries in the closed wing. The tertials are sometimes 

 edged with white. The inner tail feathers are edged externally with the color of the back, but 

 this is not conspicuous. There are some very obsolete streaks on the sides. 



The female bird is distinguished by the less extent of the white at the base of the primaries. 

 In the male the white on the inner primaries occupies more than one-half of the free portion of 

 the quill ; in the female it is much less extensive. 



Sometimes there is a strong tinge of brownish yellow on the posterior portion of the body 

 beneath. One male specimen, probably immature, has faint and obsolete transverse bars on 



