O44 LAND BIRDS 
his favorite haunts, and from the top of this stunted, 
ps grayish green vegetation, 
. he peals out the earliest 
aah, Masi greeting to the day. So 
e loud and so_ enthusi- 
astic is his song that 
it can be heard nearly 
half a mile away. As 
the sun rises and the air 
grows hotter his music 
ceases, and he skulks 
‘\among the sagebrush 
~ until evening, when he 
a=) sings again, sometimes far 
NORA oe. ‘Zy into the night. If you 
R Bg (Fe, ' have camped in. this 
ae MGS7F GZS dreary waste with the marvel- 
EN (" j ee es lously bright stars overhead 
A i 7~ and the silence of the desert 
/ | 4 around you like a tomb, the 
711. Leconre Tarasuzr, 800g of the Leconte Thrasher, 
“He loves the barrenness of he breaking the mysterious still- 
desert.” 
ness, has seemed the sweet- 
est music ever heard by mortal ears. 
712. CRISSAL THRASHER. — Toxzxostoma crissalis. 
Famity: The Wrens, Thrashers, ete. 
Length: 11.40-12.60. 
Adults: Bill long, sharply curved ; upper parts plain grayish brown, 
the tail darker and faintly tipped with rufous ; under parts dark fawn 
or grayish; the chin and throat nearly white; under tail-coverts 
