NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 393 



from ten inches to three feet above the ground. The nest is a loose, 

 bulky structure made of bark-strips, small twigs, coarse grasses and 

 lined with fine stems and rootlets. 



The eggs are three or four, rarely five, in number, and they are 

 deposited variously in the latter half of May, in June, and as late as 

 the first or second week in July. Eight sets of the eggs of this species 

 from Utah, Montana and Oregon are in Mr. Norris' cabinet. Their 

 ground-color is of a rich greenish-blue, spotted with bright reddish- 

 brown, and a few plumbeous markings. In shape they vary from an 

 ovate to a short ovate. The sizes of the specimens in a set containing 

 the smallest eggs are: .90 x .72, .89 x .72, .84 x .70. The largest: .95 x .69, 

 .96 X .70, .95 X .68, .95 X .69. Average size .95 x .70. 



703. Mimus polyglottos (Linn.) [h] 



Mockingbird. 



Hab. United States, south into Mexico; rare or local north of 38°. 



The home of this inimitable vocalist is in the Southern States, 

 where it is very abundant. It has occasionally been detected breeding 

 in the more northern States and above latitude 38° — as, near Spring- 

 field and Arlington, Massachusetts, and in the Connecticut Valley. 

 There are records of the bird's residing in summer in Central and 

 Southern Iowa. It is a rare summer resident in Ohio. I have sev- 

 eral times taken them in June, and my friend, J. E. Gould, observed 

 a pair that lingered about the grounds in the vicinity of the Ohio State 

 University during the summer months of 1887, but was unable to dis- 

 cover their nest, which was doubtless in the neighborhood. A pair 

 built their nest and reared their young for several years near the resi- 

 dence of Dr. Kirtland, at Rockport, and the bird has been found breed- 

 ing frequently in Southern Ohio. Col. Goss gives the Mockingbird as 

 a summer resident of Kansas ; begins laying about the 20th of May. 

 Mr. Shields informs me that in Los Angeles county, California, where 

 it is an abundant resident, nest-building is begun early in May, and 

 fresh eggs may be found as late as the last of June. He states that 

 when deprived of the first set of eggs, a second nest is invariably built 

 and another set deposited. 



The nest is composed of small twigs and weeds, lined with roots 

 and sometimes with horse-hair and cotton. Various situations are 

 selected for the nest ; an almost impenetrable thicket of brambles, a 

 hedge, an orange tree or holly bush seem to be favorite localities. Often 

 the nest is built in a bush a few feet from a door or window of a dwell- 

 ing. Generally two or three broods are reared in a season. Mr. J. A. 

 Singley, of Giddings, Lee county, Texas, informs me that he finds the 



