bill. Meadows, pastures, plowed fields, golf-courses, are frequented by
Pipits, usually in flocks of a dozen or more. When flushed, with a
faint _dee-dee_, they bound lightly into the air but usually soon return
to earth.

Sprague's Pipit (_Anthus spraguei_), a slightly smaller species, nests
in Montana, Dakota, and northward, and is sometimes found in small
numbers on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia in winter.

THRASHERS, MOCKINGBIRDS, ETC. FAMILY MIMIDAE

MOCKINGBIRD

_Mimus polyglottos polyglottos. Case 4; Fig. 76_

To be confused in color only with the Loggerhead
Shrike, but larger, with a longer tail, no black
on the face and totally different habits. L.
10-1/2.

_Range._ Nests from the Gulf to Iowa and Maryland;
rarely to Massachusetts; winters from Maryland
southward.

Washington, uncommon P.R., less numerous in
winter. Cambridge, rare S.R., Mch. to Nov.

No southern garden is complete without a Mockingbird to guard its
treasures with his harsh alarm-note and extol its beauties in his
brilliant, varied song. He is to the South what the Robin is to the
North--and more, for he is present throughout the year while the Robin
is with us only during the nesting season.

The Mocker builds in bushes, orange-trees or other dense vegetation,
from late March, in southern Florida, to early May in Virginia. The 4-6
eggs are blue heavily marked with brown.

CATBIRD

_Dumatella carolinensis. Case 4, Fig. 81; Case 6, Fig. 71_

Both sexes of the Catbird wear the same costume at
all seasons and all ages. L. 9.

_Range._ Nests from Florida and Texas to Canada
winters from South Carolina to the tropics.

Washington, abundant S.R., Apl. 34-Oct. 11;
occasionally winters. Ossining, common S.R. Apl.
28-Oct. 25. Cambridge, abundant S.R., May 6-Oct.
1; occasional in winter. N. Ohio, common S.R.,
Apl. 21-Oct. 5. Glen Ellyn, common S.R., Apl.
29-Oct. 6. SE. Minn., common S.R., Apl. 30-Oct. 6.

If the Catbird's name were based on his song instead of on his
call-note, he might have won the popularity he deserves, but which seems
forever denied him. Taking kindly to civilization he makes his home near
ours, asking only the shelter of our shrubbery and a share of our small
fruits in return for three months of music su