DESCRIPTION OF OROSCOPTES MONTANUS 49 



Pr. Boat. Soc. xvii. 1S74, 97 (Yellovratone Kiver).— Cones, BXW. 1674, 7, 2Q8.-B. B. \ R. 

 NAB. i. 1874, 31, fig. pi. 3, f. 6.—Yarr. Rep. Orn. Specs. 1374, Zi.— Yarr. ff Hensh. Rep. 

 Orn. Specs. 1874, 6.— Hensh. Rep. Orn. Specs. 1874, 40, 71, 9~.—Hensk. List B. Ariz. 1875, 

 150*— Aelson, Pr. Bost. Soc. xvii. 1875, 339, 349, 35^', 355 (Califoruia, Nevada, Utah). 

 Mountain Mockingbird; Sage Tiirasher. J'liior. 



Hab.— United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Paciiic ; eastward 

 to the Black Hills and Fort Laramie. Texas and Lower California. 



Ch. sp. — S 9 Griseo-cinereus ; infra aJhidus, fusco-maculatus ; 

 alis caudaque fnscls, illis alho-bifasciatis et limhatis, hac albo- 

 terminatd ; rostro pedihusque nigricantihns. 



^ 9 , in summer : Above, grayish or brownish ash. the feathers with obso- 

 letely darker centres. Below, whitish, more or less tinged with pale buflfy- 

 brown, everywhere marked with triangular dusky spots, largest and most 

 crowded across the breast, small and sparse, sometimes wanting, on the 

 throat, lower belly, and crissnm. Wings fuscous, with much whitish edging 

 on all the nuills, and two white bands formed by the tips of the greater and 

 median coverts. Tail like the wings : the outer feather edged and broadly 

 tipped, and all the rest, excepting usually the middle pair, tipped with white 

 in decreasing amount. Bill and feet black or blackish, the former often with 

 pale base. Length, about 8 inches ; wing and tail, each 4 or rather less (not 

 nearly 5, as given by Baird and copied in my " Key '') ; tarsus, 1^ ; bill, f . 



Young : Dull brownish above, conspicuously streaked with dusky ; the 

 markings below streaky and ditfuse. 



Specimens ditier little with sex or season, or with age after the first 

 streaked stage is passed. The individual variation consists in the purer or 

 more brownish ash of the upper parts, and especially in the shade of the 

 under parts, Avhich ranges from whitish to a decided brownish-cinnamon 

 cast, and in the amount of spotting. Ordinarily, the lower belly and vent, 

 and sometimes the throat, are immaculate, but the whole under surface is 

 sometimes pretty uniformly covered. The brownish .shade is usually strong- 

 est on the breast, flanks, and crissnm. The newly-grown quills and tail- 

 feathers are darker than the old ones, aud have more white edging. The 

 wing-coverts are sometimes edged as well as tipped with white. 



THIS interesting species resembles a Mockingbird — espe- 

 cially a young one, before the spots on the under parts are 

 lost — in many respects, but differs altogether in the quality of 

 its song, and shares much of the ground-loving nature of a 



* Since these references to Messrs. Yarrow and Henshavrs writings (which are important in 

 the present connection) may not be generally understood, it should be stated, that " Rep. Orn. 

 Specs." refers to a pamphlet (8vo, pp. 148) published at the office of the United States Geograph- 

 ical and Geological Explorations and Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, under auspices 

 of the Engineer Department of the United States Army, relating to the collections made by 

 the gentlemen named in 1871, 1870, 1873. containing five separate papers, one of which is an 

 "Annotated List of the Bird.t of Utah ", republished from Ann. Lye. N. H. New York, xi, 1874; 

 and that "List D. Ariz." refers to a paper by Mr. Henshaw in Appendix LL of Annual Report 

 of Chief of Engineers of the United States Army for 1S75 ; the pagination being given accord- 

 ing to the separately-printed pamphlet edition of this Appendix (8vo, pp. 196). These papers 

 are full of interesting field-notes, aud bear directly upon the subject in hand. 

 4 B C 



