418 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



While standiug one evening on a high-drifted hill of white sand about 2 miles 

 west of the rim of ancient Salton sea I heard the sweet strains of a new bird 

 song and began to look for the singer. I expected to find a mocking bird whose 

 individuality had been developed by the desert solitudes and who had learned 

 a new song. On an adjoining sand hill, perched on the exposed tip of a sand 

 buried mesquite I saw the singer — a LeConte thrasher. Perhaps environment 

 enhanced the music for the spot was a most lonesome, God-forsaken one, near 

 an ancient Indian encampment and burial ground, but I have heard no sweeter 

 bird song and the memory still lingers. Since then I have heard the song a 

 few times but not oftener than once or twice a year, though I have been fre- 

 quently among the birds. Not only do they seldom sing but the whistling call 

 note is not often heard. They appear to be silent, unsociable creatures, never 

 more than a pair being found together, unless a brood of young birds and par- 

 ents, and then only until the former can shift for themselves. 



Dr. Mearns (1886) says: "The Thrashers were heard singing dur- 

 ing the early morning. Their song is remarkable for its loud, rich tone, 

 and is at least as fine as that of any other of the genus. * * * 

 One would sing so loudly that it could be distinctly heard for more 

 than a mile." He also mentions an alarm note, a "sharply reiterated 

 whit^ or quity Ralph Hoffmann (1927) says that "the common call 

 is a low whistled hew-eey^ 



Field marks. — Over most of its range on the open desert, LeConte's 

 is the only thrasher likely to be met with. Here, a slender, clay-colored 

 bird with a long, curved bill and a long, rather blackish tail held up 

 at an angle, as it runs, showing its rusty brown under tail coverts, is 

 almost sure to be this species. In a limited portion of its range it 

 overlaps somewhat with the California thrasher and more so with the 

 crissal thrasher. Both of these species are darker colored and the 

 latter has deeper brown under tail coverts than LeConte's. The haunts 

 and behavior of all three are different. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. 



The LeConte's thrasher is found north to southern California 

 (Coalinga, Huron, Kernville, Walker Pass, Owens Valley north to 

 Benton, and Death Valley) ; southern Nevada (Ash Meadows, Charles- 

 ton Mountains, Las Vegas, and the Virgin River Valley) ; and south- 

 western Utah (Beaverdam Mountains and the vicinitj'^ of Zion Park). 

 East to southwestern Utah (near Zion Park) ; western and southern 

 Arizona (Beale Spring, Fort Wliipple, Phoenix, and Picacho Peak) ; 

 and northwestern Sonora (Port Lobos). South to northwestern 

 Sonora (Port Lobos) ; and northeastern Baja California (San Felipe 

 Bay) ; also in western Baja California from 40 miles north of Punta 

 Prieta south to San Juanico Bay. West to the Pacific Ocean from 

 about latitude 26° to 29° N. in Baja California and northeastern Baja 

 California (San Felipe Bay and the west side of the Laguna Salada) ; 



