Breeding of the Mockingbird near Boston.— A pair of Mockingbirds 

 iMimus polyglottos) nested near my house in the West Roxbury district 

 of Boston this year (1909) and successfully raised a brood of four young, 

 which when I last saw them were fully fledged and taking full care of 

 themselves. One of the birds made its appearance near my house Nov. 22, 

 1908, and it (presumably the same one) was seen occasionally all through 

 the winter. Up to April 2, 1909, only one bird was seen, and that one 

 had advertised itself as a male by beginning to sing on March 21. On' 

 April 2 or earlier it was joined by a female, and from that time on the 

 pair were often seen together, and the male sang assiduously. The nest, 

 which when fu-st discovered. May 20, contained four eggs, was placed 

 about fifteen feet from the ground near the top of a Japanese conifer 

 within about a hundred feet of my house. The young left the nest June 12, 

 and I caught and banded two of them with the aluminum bands furnished 

 by Dr. Leon J. Cole of the Peabody Musemn, New Haven. The numbers 

 of the bands are 1453 and 1460. I sincerely hope that neither of these 

 birds will be shot by any ornithologist for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 number on the band, and if any banded Mockingbird is seen in Massachu- 

 setts this fall or next year, I shall be grateful if the observer will communi- 

 cate the fact to me (as well as to Dr. Cole) and will spare the bird's life. 



I have been unable to find any more recent Massachusetts breeding- 

 records for this species than those cited by Messrs. Howe and Allen in 

 'The Birds of Massachusetts' (1901), though Dr. A. L. Reagh tells me that 

 he is credibly informed that a pair of Mockingbirds built a nest and laid 

 eggs in Roslindale, Boston, in 1902, the male being probably the bird 

 observed by me near there March 23 of that year and reported in 'The 

 Auk' (XIX, July, 1902, p. 292), but that the nest was broken up. The 

 records include two sets of eggs taken, one in Springfield lay Dr. J. A. Allen 

 and one in Groton by Mr. C. F. Batchelder. The only cases where young 

 birds have been found with their parents in Massachusetts, thus giving 

 satisfactory evidence of a successful nesting within the State, are of two 

 nearly full-grown young taken by Mr. W. S. Townsend at Arlington, 

 Aug. 15, 1883 (C. W. Townsend, Auk, I, April, 1884, p. 192), and of one 

 young female with speckled under parts shot by Mr. H. A. Torrey at 

 Marshfield, Aug. 15, 1889 (O. and O., XIV, Sept., 1889, p. 144). The 

 present instance seems to be the first to be recorded where the entire 

 nesting has been under observation in Massachusetts.— Francis H Allen 

 West Roxhury, Mass. ^fl. Oot-l»0».p. 



Mlmus polyglottos. About the 20th of last November, a Mockingbird 

 appeared in the residential part of Springfield, where the homes are sur- 

 rounded by ample grounds, and in that vicinity made its home during the 

 past winter. Very soon after it was first observed, food was furnished it 

 and it became quite tame. So-called mockingbird food, rice, bread crumbs, 

 and suet, were provided for it, which latter it seemed to prefer. During 

 severe storms this bird would disappear for a day or two, but with the 

 return of pleasant weather would again be seen. The suggestion that it 

 was an escaped cage bird has not the force it would have had a few years 

 ago, as in Massachusetts, we now have a generally respected law forbidding 

 the sale or confinement of these birds. Mockingbirds have been frequently 

 seen in the vicinity of Springfield during the warmer months, and have 

 rarely bred here, but never before has one been known to pass the winter 

 in this part of the Connecticut Valley. 



In 'The Auk' for last October, Francis H. Allen stated that a pair of 

 Mockingbirds successfully raised a brood of four young in the eastern part 

 of Massachusetts, and this bird may be one of that family.— Robert O. 

 Uowasi, S-pringfield, Mass. ASk S'X.Apr-lQiO p. 2 Z /■ 



