LECONTE'S THRASHER 417 



trying to keep out of sight but always able to outdistance us even in 

 the open. Its speed is hardly less swift than that of the swift-footed 

 lizards that scurry away from us. It suggests a miniature roadrunner 

 in behavior, than which it is hardly less fleet of foot or less adept at 

 hiding among the scanty vegetation. It sometimes carries its long 

 tail straight out behind as the roadrunner does, but more often it is 

 cocked up at a sharp angle, showing its buff under-tail coverts. 



Dr. Mearns (1886) says: "When flying they dropped low down, 

 and performed a part of each flight in a tortuous course under cover 

 of the sage brush, ascending to the top of a mesquite like a Shrike. 

 * * * Their speed when running upon the ground is truly wonder- 

 ful. A pair of them were running upon the railroad, and for a little 

 way kept ahead of our trotting horses with ease." 



Frank Stephens (1884) worked hard to collect his specimens of this 

 thrasher, which he found most elusive and exasperating ; he tells the 

 following story of one of his attempts which illustrates this point 

 and was quite typical of the bird's behavior : 



I heard a low song, and standing still and looking about me I saw H. lecontei 

 number four sitting on a low bush not far away. He observed me about the 

 same time, and went off to another low bush. As he flew along I dropped among 

 the weeds, meaning to do my best to get him. I crept along among weeds that 

 were not large enough to hide me, but could get no better cover. I soon saw 

 that he was watching me, and concluded that my game was up, but worked 

 along, flattened as close to the ground as I could get, for several yards, when 

 I came to a wash a few feet wide and a foot or so deep. I meant to try to reach 

 and cross it, and fire from the opposite side, though it was long range. He 

 watched me closely until I got down in the wash, where I swung my gun around 

 and slowly raised it to fire, when I saw that he had absconded. I didn't swear, 

 oh, no ! You wouldn't either under such circumstances, would you? The "con- 

 founded fool" had watched me as long as he could see me, and when I hid in 

 the wash he evidently thought it was time for him to go. Perhaps he was not 

 such a fool after all. 



Voice. — I never had the pleasure of hearing the song of LeConte's 

 thrasher, but those who have heard it have praised it, as a very sweet 

 song much like the songs of other thrashers. Vernon Bailey, in Mrs. 

 Bailey's Handbook (1902), writes: "After a cool night on the desert 

 in March, when the morning is loaded with the fragrance of abronias, 

 yuccas, and primroses, and the crimson and gold cups of the cactus 

 are brilliant among the creosote bushes, the thrashers are heard fairly 

 splitting their throats from the mesquite tops, and seen running about 

 chasing each other over the bare stretches between the bushes. Later 

 in the day they rest in the shade of the chaparral." 



While singing, the bird sits in thrasher fashion, with its tail hang- 

 ing down, its head thrown back, and its long, curved bill wide open. 

 After silence during the intense heat of midday, he sings again in the 

 evening coolness, sometimes far into the clear, starry, desert night. 

 Mr. Oilman (1904) writes: 



