IOI 
Brewster, on Southern Birds. 
visitor, while var. alleni represented the resident or local race. 
The latter was chiefly a bird of the oak scrub, although it was 
also to be found in open pine woods where it haunted the beds of 
saw-palmetto. Its note differed widely from that of erythro- 
phthalmus ; the u chewink ” was shorter and harsher, and in 
addition to this cry, both sexes occasionally uttered a sharp, clear 
whistle that sounded like a sportsman’s call to his dog. I am not 
sure that I heard the song, or at least identified it. These Tow- 
hees were hard to obtain, for they were shy and retiring, rarely 
venturing far from their secure retreats. The irides of all the 
specimens that I examined were brownish-yellow or dull, opaque 
amber ; never white, as is said to be the case with examples from 
Southern Florida. 
It would be difficult to find a plantation in the South that did 
not have one or more pairs of Mockingbirds. About St. Mary’s 
they were especially abundant, and nowhere more so than in the 
gardens of the village. Here they were half-domesticated, 
building their nests in the shrubbery that surrounded the houses, 
and hopping about, like Robins, upon the grass-plats and grav- 
elled walks. An orange tree directly in front of the windows of 
my room was appropriated by a remarkably fine singer. There 
is a noticeable difference in the performances of most males, but 
the voice of this bird possessed a compass and perfection of tone 
that I have never heard equalled. His repertoire included the 
notes of nearly all the birds of the surrounding region besides 
many of the characteristic village sounds, and most of the imita- 
tions were simply perfect. Moreover he was continually adding 
to his accomplishments. An interesting instance of this oc- 
curred one afternoon, when several of us were sitting on the 
veranda. A Greater Yellow-leg passing over the town was 
attracted by my answering whistle, and circled several times 
above the house reiterating his mellow call. The Mockingbird 
up to this time had been singing almost uninterruptedly, but at 
the sound of these strange notes he relapsed into silence and re- 
created into the thickest foliage of his favorite tree ; after a while 
we heard him trying them in an undertone. The first note 
came pretty readily, but the falling inflection of the succeed- 
ing .three troubled him. Whenever I ventured to prompt he 
would listen attentively, and at the next attempt show an evident 
improvement. Finally he abandoned the task, as we thought in 
