Northern Mockingbird

SCI Name:  Mimus polyglottos
Protonym:  [Turdus] polyglottos Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.169
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Mimidae / Mimus
Taxonomy Code:  normoc
Type Locality:  in Virginia.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MIMUS
(Mimidae; Ϯ Northern Mockingbird M. polyglottos) L. mimus  mimic  < Gr. μιμος mimos  mimic; "Hernandez justly calls it the queen of all singing birds. The Indians, by way of eminence or admiration, call it cencontlatolly, or four hundred tongues; and we call it (though not by so elevated a name, yet very properly) the mock-bird, from its wonderful mocking and imitating the notes of all birds, from the humming-bird to the eagle" (Catesby 1731); "LE GRAND MOQUEUR ...  MIMUS MAJOR ...  il chante très-bien, & imite parfaitement le chant de tous les Oiseaux" (Brisson 1760): based on "Mimus" of Charleton 1668, "Mock-bird" of Catesby 1731, and other references; "Mimus Briss.  Turdus polyglottus Lin. enl. 645. u.v.a." (Boie 1826); "Mimus Boie, 1826, Isis von Oken, p. 972. Type, by monotypy, Turdus polyglottos Linnaeus." (Davis & Miller in Peters 1960, IX, 442).
Var. Mimetes, Minus, Memus, Nemus.
Synon. Leucomimus, Mimodes, Nesomimus, Orpheus, Skotiomimus.

mimus
L. mimus  mimic  < Gr. μιμος mimos  mimic.

polyglotta / polyglottos / polyglottus
Gr. πολυγλωττος poluglōttos loud-voiced, harmonious < πολυς polus many; γλωσσα glōssa tongue.
● ex “Todo voz” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 151 (Cistothorus).
● "95. TURDUS.  ...   polyglottos.  7. T. obscure cinereus, subtus pallide cinereus, macula alarum albida.  Turdus minor cæruleo-albus immaculatus. Sloan. jam. 2. p. 306. t. 256. f. 3. Catesb. car. I. p. 27. t. 27. Raj. av. 185. n. 31.  Mocking-bird. Kalm. itin. 2. p. 335.  Habitat in Virginia.  Eximia voce cantillat & cantu instruitur." (Linnaeus 1758) (Mimus).

SUBSPECIES

Northern Mockingbird (leucopterus)
SCI Name: Mimus polyglottos leucopterus
leucopterum / leucopterus
Gr. λευκοπτερος leukopteros  white-winged  < λευκος leukos  white; -πτερος -pteros  -winged  < πτερον pteron  wing.
● ex “Mérion leucoptère” of Quoy & Gaimard 1824 (Malurus).
● ex “White-winged Oriole” (= ♂) of Latham 1782, and “White-backed Oriole” of Pennant 1785 (syn. Tachyphonus rufus).

Northern Mockingbird (polyglottos)
SCI Name: Mimus polyglottos polyglottos
polyglotta / polyglottos / polyglottus
Gr. πολυγλωττος poluglōttos loud-voiced, harmonious < πολυς polus many; γλωσσα glōssa tongue.
● ex “Todo voz” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 151 (Cistothorus).
● "95. TURDUS.  ...   polyglottos.  7. T. obscure cinereus, subtus pallide cinereus, macula alarum albida.  Turdus minor cæruleo-albus immaculatus. Sloan. jam. 2. p. 306. t. 256. f. 3. Catesb. car. I. p. 27. t. 27. Raj. av. 185. n. 31.  Mocking-bird. Kalm. itin. 2. p. 335.  Habitat in Virginia.  Eximia voce cantillat & cantu instruitur." (Linnaeus 1758) (Mimus).

Northern Mockingbird (orpheus)
SCI Name: Mimus polyglottos orpheus
orpheus
Gr. myth. Orpheus, minstrel son of King Oeagrus of Thrace and the Muse Calliope, and the most celebrated poet and musician who ever lived, whose music enchanted wild beasts and made the rocks and trees dance.
● "95. TURDUS.  ...  Orpheus.  8. T. dorso fusco, pectore rectricibusque lateralibus albidis, alis fascia alba. Brown. jam. 469.  Turdus cinereus minor. Edw. av. 78. t. 78.  Habitat in America.  Cauda longa rotundata. Rectrices extimæ albæ. E terra elevatus cantilena spectatorem rapit in sui admirationem." (Linnaeus 1758) (subsp. Mimus polyglottos).