Occurrence of the Mocking Bird in Massa- 

 1^?-?;^ chusetts. 



^ 1^ l^ead before the Nuttall Ornithological Cluh.] 

 ^1 This alternoon my attention was called by a friend to 

 a bird which I supposed to be a Shrike, sitting upon a 

 clierry tree bacls of the house. While I was loading 

 my gun the bird flew a few yards and perched upon a 

 tree much nearer the building, which gave me an excel- 

 lent opportunity to shoot from the window where I 

 stood. After discharging the first barrel the bird flew, 

 thougli it was plainly seen that he was badly wounded. 

 My friend watched him closely, and saw where he 

 alighted. I went in pursuit and the bird fell, and my 

 surprise was great, upon looking at the specimen, to find 

 it to be a Mimm polyglottis. 



Embby C. Grbknwood, 

 Newtonville, Mass. 



[This specimen was exhibited at a meeting of the Club 

 and the members were of the opinion that it was not 

 an escaped bird, as might be supposed, for the plumage 

 was in good condition, and had not the worn look as is 

 usual with caged birds. This is the second specimen 

 talien*vithin four months in the same locality, one hav- 

 ing been shot by Mr. H. A. Purdie in November, 1874, 

 aud a specimen was also seen earlier in the season, near 

 where the above mentioned specimens were taken. 

 Another was seen in Salem, Mass., by Mrs. E. Harring- 

 ton, in Jane, 1874. Ruthven Dkane, Sec] 



Mocking Bird in Massachusetts in 

 Winter. 



About February 4, while looking for spe- 

 cimens of winter birds, I saw a strange bird 

 that I had never before met with, but 

 thought little of it until the 14th of Febru- 

 ary I shot the bird near the spot where first 

 seen. It was a Mocking Bird ( Mimus 

 Polvgiotiis ) which confronted me as I 

 went to pick up my specimen. 



The bird had lived here certainly for 

 about two weeks without succumbing to the 

 cold of this climate, which shows the bird 

 can live here even in cold weather. The 

 only way I can account for its being here at 

 this time of year is that it must be an es- 

 caped cage bird. (The bird was identified 

 by " Coues' Key" and Steam's "New Eng- 



lland Bird Life.") 

 Duxbury, Mass. 



H. E. Barton. 

 O.&O. Vol.18. 21ar.l8&3 P.45 



Breeding of the Mockingbird near Boston, Mass.— On August 15, 1883, 

 my brother, Mr. W. J. Townsend, shot two nearly fall-grown Mocking- 

 birds (Mimus folyglottus) at Arlington, Mass. He found them in a small 

 thicket near a meadow, in company with an old one and two other young 

 ones, which, however, he was unable to secure. The two he obtained were 

 young birds, quite well feathered, their wings fully grown, but their tails 

 decidedly shorter than in the adult. Later I made frequent excursions to 

 the same and neighboring places, btit did not succeed in discovering the 

 rest of the family? On inquiry 1 learned that a farmer of the place, who had 

 lived down in the South and was familiar with the Mockingbird, had seen 

 one several times during the early part nf the summer near his house, 



ind heard him sing. 



There seems, therefore, no re 

 ared at Arlington. Mr. Williar 



ason to doubt that a pair of these birds 

 Q Brewster tells me there are no records of 

 the breeding of the Mockingbird in Eastern Massachusetts, but the fact of 

 their breeding several times near Springfield, Ma.ss., is w^ell known.— 

 Charles W. Townsend, il/^.'^.v-Auk, I, April, 1884. p. /f2. 



Another Massachusetts Record for the Mockingbird. — A specime 

 Mimus folyglottos (Linn.) was shot by the writer at Great Island, 

 Hyannis, Mass., on August 30, 1891. The bird 

 still showing tht 



„ young plnn 



spotted breast. — Charles B. Cory, Boston, Mass. 



Auk, 8, oot, leei. p. i/j" 



mUor of O. & 0. : 



I received your postal and will give you 

 any information I can. On the afternoon of 

 August 15, while riding through the town of 

 Marshfield, 1 saw a bird fly from a tree, which 

 from description, I judged to bo a IMocking; 

 t bird, and thus it proved. I immediately 

 started in pursuit, and wliile climbing a fence 

 three others started from some bushes ahead 

 of me. I thought I saw another one to my 

 left, but was not certain. They were rather 

 shy and kept hidden in the bushes. I followed 

 them, starting first one and then another, for 

 some time, and finally obtained a shot at one 

 and killed it. It was a young female, having the 

 under parts speckled. 



This bird as well as some of the others must 

 have been reared near by there. 

 ' I will look sharp for them next season, 

 j //. A. Torrey. 



j Eockland, Mass. 



H W. Marsden shot a Mockingbird at 

 Suincy, Mass., Dee. 1. We personally e.xamined 

 it and pronounced it not a cage bird. About 

 the same time another was shot about twenty- 

 five i8eo» 



Ajl4^J>-^o(^^ ■smA a Mocking-Bird on April 4. The 

 party who shot the Mocking-Bird reported 

 that there was a pair, but he failed to secure 

 but the one. 



O.&O.V0I.I8. April, 1898 p. 61 



