The Western Mockingbird 
Range of Mimus polyglottos. —United States south into Mexico and the West 
Indies. 
Range of M. p. leucopterus. —Southwestern United States and Mexico. Breeds 
in Lower and Upper Sonoran zones from northwestern Nebraska, southern Wyoming, 
and central California (casually northwestern Nevada, Sunkist, July 28, 1918) south 
to Cape San Lucas and Oaxaca. Accidental on Guadalupe Island. 
Distribution in California. — Resident chiefly in the Lower Sonoran zone; 
wandering into lower reaches of LIpper Sonoran in fall and winter, notably in the 
counties tributary to San Francisco Bay. (One record also for Humboldt County, 
Dec. 1922, Ferndale.) An abundant breeder in the San Diegan district north to 
Santa Barbara and, less commonly, on the southeastern deserts north to Owens Valley 
(Lone Pine, June 18, 1911), formerly to the head of that valley (Fisher, N. Am. Fauna, 
no. 7. n. T27): also, sparingly, in the San 
Joaquin-Sacramento Valley, north to 
Marysville and Chico, and in the warmer 
valleys of the south central coast system, 
Santa Maria, San Juan (in San Luis Obispo 
County), Salinas, San Benito, etc. Resi¬ 
dent on Santa Cruz, Catalina, and San 
Clemente Islands, and has occurred on 
Anacapa. 
Authorities.—Gambel (Mimus 
polyglottis), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 
vol. iii., 1846, p. 114 (Santa Barbara); 
Mearns, Auk, vol. xix., 1902, p. 70 (the 
Mockingbird of the west separated as 
Mimus polyglottos leucopterus (Vigors); 
Beal, U. S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv. Bull., 
no. 30, 1907, p. 52 (food); Grinnell, Auk, 
vol. xxviii., 1911, p. 293, map (distr. in 
Calif.); Dickey, Condor, vol. xxiv., 1922, 
p. 153 (song). 
IF GALLI-CURCI were to war¬ 
ble in your own dooryard day in and 
day out, year in and year out, the 
chances are you would come to feel 
yourself disqualified as a critic of 
coloratura singing. As I write these 
words on a November day, Old 
Faithful, the Los Colibris Mocking¬ 
bird, showers music upon me from 
his favorite perch, a dead eucalyptus 
which overlooks the study. It is 
beautiful music, wonderful music, 
and I would not willingly spare it 
from the daily sum of life’s joys. 
716 
Taken at 
Los Colibris 
Photo by 
the Author 
ATTENTIVE 
