. Birds of Washington and vicinity : including adjacent parts of Maryland and Virginia . f remarkablefriendship for man. Mockingbird: Munits polyglottos. Length lo^ inches. Upper parts ashy-gray; wings and tail blackish, markedstrongly with white. Under parts grayish-white. Resident (uncommon) all the year; winters from Virginiasouthward. This famous vocalist rarely nests here, although heis found rather commonly at Colonial Beach, PineyPoint, and other summer resorts somewhat south ofus, and in lower Maryland breeds abundantly. MOCKINGBIRD 51 He is likely to l)uild in thickets in open countr\
. Birds of Washington and vicinity : including adjacent parts of Maryland and Virginia . f remarkablefriendship for man. Mockingbird: Munits polyglottos. Length lo^ inches. Upper parts ashy-gray; wings and tail blackish, markedstrongly with white. Under parts grayish-white. Resident (uncommon) all the year; winters from Virginiasouthward. This famous vocalist rarely nests here, although heis found rather commonly at Colonial Beach, PineyPoint, and other summer resorts somewhat south ofus, and in lower Maryland breeds abundantly. MOCKINGBIRD 51 He is likely to l)uild in thickets in open countr\-,and in shrubbery about dwellings. Mr. Ridgwavsays a bunch of low, thick-topped trees canopied withwild grapevine suits him excellently, and Mr. WilliamPalmer found a nest in an old apple tree. The nesiis bulky, much like a Catbirds, and the bluish-grayeggs, 4 to 6, are thickly speckled with brown. Twobroods, sometimes three, are raised in a season. Mockingljirds are scarcely more rare about Wash-ington in winter than in sunmier; Mr. W. F. Robertshas eioht winter records. 52 CATBIRD. CATBIRD. Catbird: Galcosco^tcs caroliiwiisis. Length abciut 9 inches. General color .slaty-gray; cap and tail patcli under base of tail. Resident from April 20 to October; winters in the South-ern States, Cuba, and Central America. The Catbird is one of the best known of our sum-mer residents, l^eing a tenant of most thickets, gar-dens and lawns in the country, and also of the shrub-bery in our city parks. He is easily recognized bythe mewing cry which gives him his name, and by anervous jerking of the tail when perching. His song is varied, and often exceedingly sweet,but he is a bird of surprises and we never know justwhat to expect from him. He has the family giftof mimicry (shared with the Mockingbird and CAROLINA WREN 53 Thrasher) and we have many a time chased a strangenote to find it coming from this old and supposedlywell-known friend. The Catbird is shrewd and suspicion
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1902
