PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 397 



Mocking-bird, but when asked to describe it, gives the description of 

 the Sickle-bill Thrush or the Black-headed Grosbeak, or, occasionally, 

 the Long-t-ailed Chat.* 



73609 i — ad. 

 76361 I — juv. 



Marysville Dec. 26,1877 



'Big Trees July 'J2, 1^78 



6. Oreoscoptes montaiius, (Towns.). — Sage Thrasher. 



About October 1, 1877, at Soda Springs, I saw a strange Thrush, 

 which may have belonged to this species, as I do not know what else it 

 could have been. I had a good view of it, but did not shoot, because too 

 near. I began to walk away from it, when it went into the bushes by 

 the river. It had been sitting six or eight feet fi-om the ground on a 

 dead limb of a tree. When it flew, its course was downward, toward 

 the thicket, a few feet distant. 



*7. Harporhynchus redivivus, (Gamb.). — SicMe-hill Thrasher. 



The Sickle-bill Thrasher is a constant resident at Stockton, JNIurphy's, 

 and Marysville, and is very common in the chaparral belt. It is rare 

 at Stockton, for want of suitable ground. 



*Marysville 



*Xorth American . 

 *Murphys 



Jan. — . 1878 

 Mar. 1.^, 1S78 

 Mar. 15,1878 



Family CINCLID^ : The Water Ouzels. 



*8. Cinclus mexicanus, Swains. — American Water Ouzel ; Dipper. 



This bird is in summer abundant in the clear streams of Calaveras 

 Co., shunning those which have been muddied by mining operations. • 



I have several times seen it swim across the surface of one of the 

 abandoned mining claims at Murphy's, and, while fishing for trout in the 

 streams of the Upper Sierras, have often seen it smm on the surface — 

 at times floating with the rapid current ; but it is proper to mention that 

 this is not its usual habit. It sometimes swims a distance of twenty or 

 thirty yards in still water. It is an occasional winter visitant to Mur- 

 phy's, below which I have never seen it. 



73531 — ad. 

 73874 — ad. 



-.Soda Spring!*. 

 Mui-i)lij-'s. . .- 



Sept. — 1877 

 Winter, 1877 



Family PTILOGOXATID^ : The Ptilogonies. 



*9. Myiadestes townsendi, (And.). — Totcnsend's Solitaire. 



This appears to be a habitual visitant to Soda Springs in the fall, if 

 not a summer resident, as I have found it common during each of several 



* A .similar confusion of names prevails to a considerable extent in many iiarts of 

 tlie Eastern States, where, however, the bird mo.st commonly confonnded with the 

 Mocking-bird is the Loggerhead Shrike, Laniiis ludovicianus. — E. R. 



