A Pair of Mockingbirds near Boston in 1902.— Concerning the note 

 in the October 'Auk' of 1910 entitled: "The Moclcingbird near Boston," 

 signed by Mr. Francis H. Allen of West Roxbury, I would say, that in 

 1902 a pair of Mocldngbirds {Mimus polygloUos) built two nests within 

 sight of my home in Roslindale. The male was constantly under our 

 kitchen windows. He entertained us the entire summer, not only with 

 his singing, but also by his gymnastics while doing so. He would frequently 

 light on the ridge-pole of my neighbor's house, and vertically bounce up 

 and down, five to ten feet, singing all the while. He would do this fre- 

 quently eight or ten times in succession. I first noticed the male when the 

 apple trees leaved out, but neglected to record the exact date. 



Shortly afterward he was joined by a female. They built in a large 

 white oak tree situated midway between Congress and Fletcher Streets 

 on Center Street, Roslindale. 



The nest was quite high up. Four young were raised, but were pre- 

 sumably stolen by a laborer who was working on a sewer, then in construc- 

 tion, on Center Street. When the young were about to leave the nest, 

 one of my sons heard the man in question say, that he was "coming out 

 early to-morrow morning and take those birds." As the nest was empty 

 on the day designated, it is quite probable he succeeded in doing so. The 

 parent birds were inconsolable for a time. Soon, however, they built 

 again; this time low down in a golden elderberry bush which grew, within 

 twenty feet of the house, on the front lawn of .one of my neighbors. Here 

 three young were raised and successfully launched from the nest. I saw 

 two of the young birds killed by neighbor's cats. This same fate overtook 

 the mother. 



One day while sitting on my piazza, I saw in the vacant lot opposite, 

 a cat spring into a hollow apparently in the act of catching a bird. Hearing 

 the great distress of the male mockingbird directly over the hole, I ran 

 to the place, but alas! too late. The cat bounded away but in her fright 

 dropped the bird. Immediately picking it up, I recognized the still 

 beautiful though lifeless mate of the distracted father who was hovering 

 over me. 



The father mockingbird and one of the young were constantly seen about 

 the neighborhood until autumn, when they probably went South. In 

 passing, I may say that it was this particular pair of mockingbirds which 

 first incited me to the study of bird hfe. Whether the pair of mocking- 

 birds described above are the pair referred to by Mrs. Seriah Stevens or 

 not I do not know, but I have never heard of other than this pair nest- 

 ing in Roshndale in 1902.— Julia Wingate Sherman, Roslindale, Mass. 



'9'/ . 



Mockingbird Notes from Massachusetts. — On October 23, 1911, 

 I took at Nantucket a young Mockingbird, and' at the same time I saw the 

 two parent birds. There is no doubt from the condition of the plumage 

 that this bird was bred not far from the spot where it was taken. 



Mr. Francis H. Allen recorded in ' The Auk ' (Auk, XXVII, 1910, p. 460) 

 a pair which successfully raised a brood of four young near his house in 

 West Roxbury in 1909, one of the parent birds having been seen ofJ and on 

 from November 22, 1908, the other parent bii-d was first seen early in 

 April, and the birds were last seen August 8. A Mockingbird was seen 

 in the same locality October 7, 1909, to May 14, 1910, November 6, 1910, 

 to April 14, 1911, and again November 5, 1911; this was presumably 

 the same bird. 



Mr. Horace W. Wright reports seeing Mockingbirds in the Parkway near 

 the Longwood railway station several times in the winter of 1910 and the 

 spring of 1911; three if not four birds were seen repeatedly. Those birds 

 were also seen by Mr. E. E. Caduc and other observers. None of these 

 birds was seen after the middle of April. Dr. Charles W. Townsend 

 reports seeing a Mockingbird at Ipswich August 26 and 28, 1910. 

 Mr. Winthrop S. Brooks saw a pair at Manomet, Plymouth County, on 

 December 14, 1911. One of these, a female, he shot and gave to the Boston 

 Society of Natural History. These records show that the Mockingbird 

 is more common in Massachusetts t 

 S. Bradlee, Boston, Mass. 



husetts tian is generally supposed. — Thomas 



