Plate LX IV. 
Fig. 4. MIKUS POLYGLOTTUS— Mockingbird. 
The Mockingbird, although a southern species, occasionally breeds in Central and Southern Ohio. I 
have never found its nest but once, but I frequently hear of instances of its occurrence. It can safely 
be classed as a constant though rare summer resident. It arrives in April or May, and builds its nest 
the last of May or early in June, and probably with us rears but a single brood. 
LOCALITY : 
In its favorite breeding grounds of the South, this species has acquired a liking for the habitations 
of man, and is to be found in greater abundance about dwellings than in dense woods. Even in the 
wilds of Florida, according to Maynard, it lives in “little hummocks and clumps of bushes, that grow in the 
open pine barrens,” rather than in thickly Avooded sections. The pair which I observed in 1880, made 
their home in a little thicket of tAvo or three acres, on the bluff bank of the Scioto river, four miles north 
of Circleville. A feAv large oak trees Avere still standing among the undergroAvth and from the top of one 
of them the male stood on guard and sang to his mate through most of the day. 
POSITION : 
The nest is usually in a Ioav tree or bush, its distance from the ground being from tAvo or three feet to 
eight or ten feet. It is situated in a crotch or upon interlacing stems after the manner of the nest of the 
Wood Thrush or the Cardinal Redbird. 
MATERIALS : 
The foundation and superstructure are composed of Aveed-stems, roots, straAvs, bits of leaA r es and 
pieces of twigs,, in various proportions, the twigs generally predominating and forming the exterior, and 
the finer and more pliable material going to make the superstructure. The cavity is lined Avith small 
dark rootlets, or more rarely Avith Aveed-fibres, horse-hairs, strings, or such other soft material as is 
accessible. According to “Birds of North America,” page 17, its external diameter is about 6.00 inches; 
internal diameter,, 3.50 inches; external depth, 2.00 inches; internal, 1.50 inches. 
EGGS: 
The number of eggs in a set is usually four or five. The ground-color is pale greenish-blue, on 
some very faint, on others quite decided. The markings consist of blotches, spots, and speckles of broAvn- 
madder or reddish-broAvn. The deep shell-marks appear lilac. I have before me three eggs, representa- 
tive of the various styles of markings: No. 1. At smaller end, ground-color largely obscured by the 
confluence of four or five large surface blotches, around these are smaller blotches, and as the equator of 
the egg is approached the blotches give place to spots and the spots to speckles, so that the basal half 
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