AuJ£, A-i.'-, JViiv, ioyo, vf-^X rf 



Nesting of Mimus polyglottos in Eastern Massachusetts. — On June 

 3, 1895, while walking along a narrow country road in Groton, Massa- 

 chusetts, my attention was suddenly attracted by the strange sight of 

 a Mockingbird flying across an adjoining field. It alighted on a fence 

 post near by, and, as I turned back to make sure that I had seen 

 aright, my surprise was increased by the appearance of a second 

 one. The two birds flew off together with such an evident air of 

 being mates that I immediately began to look for a nest. The road 

 was bordered on each side by a broad stretch of grassy fields, divided 

 by rail fences: an eighth of a mile away it crossed a much travelled 

 highway, strung along which a dozen houses could be seen; while at 

 about the same distance in the opposite direction was the beginning 

 of a large tract of deciduous woods. Besides these woods, there was 

 hardly a tree anywhere near, save a few small apple-trees by one of the 

 houses and one or two more — stunted, chance-sown seedlings — grow- 

 ing by the roadside. To one of the latter, a few steps away, I directed 

 my search. In a moment I discovered a clumsily built nest a dozen 

 feet from the ground, amid the thick foliage of a branch that overhung 

 the road. I climbed the tree and, though I found the nest empty, I was 

 rewarded by a scolding visit from the birds. When I came again on June 

 13 they gave me a still more unfriendly greeting though they were so wary 

 that I obtained only the male to accompany the nest and four half-incu- 

 bated eggs which I secured. 



This locality, which is in the northern part of Middlesex County, 

 hardly six miles south of the New Hampshire boundary, is the most 

 northern point in New England where the Mockingbird has yet been 

 known to breed, and the only one in Massachusetts, east of Springfield, 

 where its nest actually has been taken. The only other recorded evidence 

 I can find of the breeding of the species in eastern Massachusetts is based 

 on two families of well-grown young, found, one at Arlington (Auk, I, 

 192), the other atMarshfield (O. & O. XIV, 144). In each of these cases 

 the birds were not discovered until August 15, although it seems probable 

 that they had been bred in the neighborhood.— Charles F. Batchel- 

 DER, Cambridge, Mass. 



Auk, XIV, Jan. ,1897, v /^o 



Mimus polyglottos. — For a few days during the last part of May a 

 Mockingbird was observed in Ludlow. 



Auk, XIV, Jtdy, 1897, p- 3^'^ 

 A Mockingbird at Worcester, Mass. — A Mockingbird (^Mimus poly- 



glottos^) visited us at Worcester, Massachusetts, this spring. The bird 



was heard singing at Green Hill, April 26, was seen on the 29th, and 



continued in the same locality through the month of May. He sang well, 



imitating notes of the Blue Jay, Phoebe and Brown Thrasher. — Helen 



A. Ball, Worcester, Mass. 



Ank, XV, Jan., 1898, pf-S"i-('°- 



Mockingbird {Mimus polyglottos) at Taunton, Mass. — Mr. A. R. 

 Sharp of this city shot and presented to me a fine specimen of this bird 



on Nov. II, 1897. It proved to be a female in good condition and its 

 stomach contained a number of seeds and part of the skin of a tomato. 

 The plumage showed no signs of wear and tear which would brand it as 

 an escaped cage bird. ' 



It was killed just outside of this city near Mr. Sharp's farm, and was 

 mistaken for a Shi'ike at the time. 



This is very late in the season for a Mockingbird to be found so far 

 north, yet I cannot think that it had recently been in captivity. — A. C. 

 Bent, Taunton, Mass. 



