THRUSH. 147 



193— MIMIC THRUSH. 



Turdus polyglottus, Ind. Orn. i. 339. Lin. i. 293. Gm. Lin. i. 812. Borowsk. iii. 



168. Bertram, Trav. p. 288. Gerin. iii. t. 298. 

 Turdus Auiericanus minor canorus, Rati, 64. 5. Id. 185. 31. Sloan. Jam. ii. 306. 



t. 256. 3.— Male. 

 Mimus major, Bris. ii. 266. Id. 8vo. i. 232. 

 Turdus minor cinereo-albus, Klein, 69. 21. 

 Turdus Orpheus, Mus. Lev. t. 4. 

 Moqueur, Buf. iii. 325. 

 Mock-bird, Cat. Car.\. pi. 27. Kalm, It.W. 335. Id. Voy. i. 217. Id. ii. p. 90. pi. 3. 



Amer. Ornith. ii. pi. 10. f. 1. — the egg, fig. 2. 

 Mimic Thrush, Gen. Syn. iii. 40. Arct. Zool. ii. 194. 



SIZE of a Blackbird, but more slender ; length nine inches and 

 a half, breadth thirteen inches and a quarter. Bill black, irides 

 dirty yellow; the plumage of an uniform grey, much paler beneath, 

 nearly white ; lesser wing coverts ash-coloured, the others dusky, 

 edged with white ; quills black, base white ; tail four inches long ; 

 legs grey. Male and female much alike. 



This species is an enemy to the Black Snake, frequently driving- 

 it away from its haunts ; is common throughout America, and 

 Jamaica, but changes its place in the summer, when it goes farther 

 northward ; frequent in moist woods, and builds both in bushes and 

 trees, often near plantations, in the fruit trees ; the nest is made of 

 stalks of weeds, hay, and feathers ; the eggs of a pearl-colour, 

 spotted with brown ; has two broods in a year, and sits fourteen days. 

 Is a very shy bird, and, like the Redstart, will often forsake the nest, 

 if looked at by any one ; the young are brought up with great 

 difficulty ; indeed if they are taken in the nest, the mother will feed 

 them with grasshoppers and insects for a few days, after which she 

 deserts them. It feeds chiefly on berries of several kinds, mulber- 

 ries, and insects, and the flesh is accounted very palatable : is said to 



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