320 THE SAGE THRASHER. 



No. 12J. 



SAGE THRASHER. 



A. O. U. No. 702. Oroscoptes montaniis Townsend. 



Synonyms. — Sack ]\rocKi:R. AIouxtain Mockikg-rird (early name — 



inapropos ). 



Description. — .Idiills: (k-iKTal ])lumage ashj' brown, lighter below: above 

 gravish- or ashy-bn.iwn, the feathers. e,specially on crown, streaked mesially with 

 darker brown; wings and tail dark grayish brown with paler edgings; middle 

 and greater coverts narn.)wly tip]>eil with whitish, producing two dull bars; outer 

 rectrices broadly tipped with white, decreasing in area, till vanishing on central 

 pair; lores grayish; a pale superciliary line; cheeks brownish varied by white; 

 underparts whitish tinged with buffy brown, most strongly on flanks and crissum, 

 everywhere ( save, usually, on throat, lower belly, and under tail-coverts ) streaked 

 with dusky, the streaks tending to confluence along side of throat, sharply dis- 

 tinguished and wedge-shaped on lireast, where also heaviest ; bill blackish paling 

 on mandible; legs and feet dusky brownish, the latter with yellow soles; iris 

 lemon-yellow, i'ouiiy birds are browner and more decidedly streaked above; 

 less distinctly streaked below. Length about 8.00 (203); wing 3.82 (97); tail 

 3.54 (90) ; bill .65 ( 16.4) ; tarsus 1.20 (30.5). 



Recognition Marks. — Chewink size; ashy-brt)wn plumage appearing nearly 

 uniform at distance; sage-haunting habits; impetuous song. 



Nesting. — Nest, a substantial structure of thorny twigs (Sarcobatus pre- 

 ferred), usually slightly domed, with a heavy inner cup of fine bark (sage) 

 stri|)S, ])laced without attempt at concealment in sage-bush or greasewood. Eggs. 

 4 or 5, rich, dark, bluish green, heavily spotted or blotched with rich rufous and 

 "egg-gray" — among the handsomest. Av. size, .98 x .71 (24.9x18). Season: 

 May I-June 15; two ( ?) broods. 



General Range. — Western I'nited States from western part of the Cireat 

 Plains (western South Dakota, western Nebraska, and eastern Colorado) north 

 to Montana, west to the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, south into New Mexico, 

 Lower California, and, casually, to Guadalupe Island. 



Range in Washington. — Treeless portions of East-side; summer resident. 



Authorities.— ("Sage IMirasher," Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T. 1884 (1885), 

 p. 22. 1 Dawson, ^Vilson Bulletin, No. y). June, 1902, p. 67. (T). D=. Ss'. Ss-. 



Specimens. — LI. of W. P. C. 



IT takes a poet to appreciate the desert. Those people who affect to 

 despise the sage are the same to whom stones are stones instead of compacted 

 histories of the world's youth, and clouds are clouds instead of legions of 

 angels. It is no mark of genius then to despise common things. The desert 

 has cradled more of the world's good men and great than ever were coddled 

 in king's palaces. Whistler used to paint "symphonies in gray" and men held 

 back questioning, "Hr — is this art ?" A few, bolder than their fellows, pro- 



