country, extending from thence to the Saskatchewan. It quits the fur-countries,
with the other migratory birds, early in September, and by the middle of that
month it also departs from Pennsylvania. It does not derive its name of Mockingbird
from any habit it has of mimicking the voices of other birds, but, as Wilson
thinks, from the resemblance its notes have to those of the Turdus polyglottos, or
real Mocking-bird. Its song, though inferior to that of the bird just mentioned,
is remarkably loud, clear, and various, bearing considerable resemblance to that
of the European Thrush (Turdus musicus). Its food consists of grubs, beetles,
caterpillars, grains, cherries, and berries of various kinds. It frequents low
thickets, and builds its nest, near the ground, of sticks, lined with dry leaves, and
a layer of fine fibrous roots. It lays five eggs, which, according to Wilson, are of
a bluish-white colour, speckled with reddish-brown.
DESCRIPTION
Of a female, killed at Carlton House, 5th July, 1827.
C olour of the whole dorsal aspect, including wings and tail, orange-coloured-brown; this
colour is a little greyer on the forehead, but does not vary a single shade elsewhere. Two
narrow reddish-white bands, bordered above with umber-brown, cross the wings on the tips
of the greater coverts, and the adjoining row of the lesser coverts. The inner webs of the
quill feathers have an umber tint. On the sides of the neck and inferior surface of the body,
the colour is soiled brownish-white, interspersed pretty thickly, on the sides of the neck,
breast, shoulders, and flanks, and more sparingly on the belly, with triangular liver-brown
spots on the ends of the feathers. The inner wing coverts are pale wood-brown, almost
unspotted, and the insides of the quill feathers and tail beneath have a handsome tint,
intermediate between flesh-red and ochre-yellow. Bill blackish-brown; the base of the under
mandible yellowish. Legs wax-yellow. Irides king’s yellow.
F o rm , & c .—Bill longer, but stronger, and not so much compressed as that of the Merula
migratoria ; cutting margin of the upper mandible curving regularly, but gently, from near
its middle, without a notch at the tip. There are three or four pretty strong hairs at the base
of the upper mandible. Wings short and rounded, being three inches and a half shorter than
the tail. First quill feather (spurious) not above half the length of the fourth and fifth, which
are the longest; third and sixth very little shorter than these; seventh about two lines shorter
than the sixth ; and the eighth and ninth diminish about as much; the second is equal to the
ninth, and only six or seven lines shorter than the fourth and fifth. Their outer webs, from
the third to the seventh inclusive, are sinuated, the latter, however, only very obliquely. The
tail is long and cuneiform, the outer feathers being more than an inch shorter than the
middle ones.
Inches.
Length from the tip of the bill to the end of
the tail . . . . . .1 2
„ of the tail . . . . 5
„ of the folded wing . . . 4
„ of the bill along the ridge . . 1
„ of the bill from the angle of the mouth 1
MERULID®. 191
Dimensions
of the female.
Lines. Inches. Lines.
Length of the tarsus . • . . 1 3
0 „ of the'middle toe 0 10£
0 ,, of its claw . . . 0 4
1^ „ of the hind toe . . 0 6
1 „ of its claw . . . 0 6
4
The male is said to have a brighter orange tint on its plumage, broader white
bands on the wing, and larger liver-coloured spots on the breast.—R.
The strong analogy which this and certain other species of Orpheus from South
America, bear to such forms as Pomatorhinus, in the next sub-family of Thrushes
(<Cratopodinoe), is clearly indicated by the integrity of the bill, the upper mandible
being entirely destitute of a notch : this relation of analogy has consequently been
mistaken for one of affinity. Our Orpheus longirostris*, which is a true Mockingbird,
in its surprising versatility of voice and powers of song, has lately been described,
by the authors of the Planches Coloriées, as a new species, and referred to
the genus Pomatorhinus! Nothing is more satisfactory than to have our views thus
unintentionally confirmed, by those who are avowedly hostile to the very principles
upon which they are founded. The greater curvature of the bill in Orpheus longi-
rostris, is the only deviation it exhibits from the structure of 0. rufus ; the wings,
tail, feet, tarsi, scutellation, rictus, nostrils, every other part, in short, is precisely
the same. This supposed Pomatorhinus, moreover, is the Moeking-bird of
Mexico; and, as the late Mr. Bullock, jun., informed us, is universally kept in
cages, and highly valued for the sweetness and extraordinary variety of its notes.
The genus Orpheus, like that of Merula, contains two most natural divisions ;
one having the throat and breast variegated by spots; the other destitute of these
markings ; the former, in the present group, is exemplified in 0 . rufus, while the
latter, which is the pre-eminent typical form, is seen in 0. polyglottos and longi
rostris. We do not oonsider the present bird as aberrant, otherwise than as
representing Merula in its own genus, in the same way as Orpheus meruloides, to all
appearance, typifies the Red-tailed Rock Thrushes (Petrocincla, Vig.), a group
which we are disposed to consider as the Rasorial type of the family : again, we
find this type represented, in the genus Orpheus, by the African White-crowned
Thrushes with red tails ; and all these are indisputable types of the Redstart
Synopsis of the Birds of Mexico. Phil. Mag., June, 1827, No. 32, p. 368.