TrilDID.K — TIIK THUrSIIES. 33 



its fo(Kl ill thi.s iKJsitinii. (Jeiieral ('oiicli speaks of it as Sparrow-like in its 

 habits. 



Mr. Nuttall de.scril>es its sonjij as cheeriii'j, and the notes of which it is 

 composed as decidedly resendding those of the Jirown Thrush {Hftrjut- 

 rhi/iirhits rtifvs). He claims for it some of the imitative powers of the 

 Mockin«^-I>ird {Mi mm pohitflottfiii), hut in this he is not supported by the 

 observations of others. He met with its nest in a wormwood (Arfanisio) 

 bush on the Umler of a ravine ; it contained four e«:«,'s of emerald green, 

 sjjotted with dark olive, the simts being large, roundish, and more numerous 

 at the larger end. The nest was composed of small twigs and rougli stalks, 

 and lined with strips of bark and bison-wool. The female flew off to a short 

 distance, and looked at her unwelcome visitors without uttering any com- 

 plaint. 



The nests of tliis bird, so far as I have seen them, are all flat, shallow 

 structures, with very slight depression, and loosely and rudely constructed 

 of an intermingling of strips of bark with rootlets and the flner stems of her- 

 baceous ])lants. Their eggs, usually four in number, do not vary essentially 

 in size, shai)e, or marking. Tht\" measure 1 inch in length, and from .73 to 

 .75 in breadth. Tlieir ground color is a bright greenish-blue, marked with 

 deep olive-brown spots, intermingled with blotches of a light lilac. There 

 are slight variations in the j>roportion of green in the shade of the ground 

 color, and also in the number and size of the spots, but these variations are 

 unimportant. 



The following are ^Ir. liidgway's observations uj)on the habits of this 

 species. They are full, valualjle, and very carefully made : — 



The Oram'opU'n monttoms is a bird peculiar to the artemisia wastes of the 

 Great Basin, being a characteristic species of the region between the SieiTa 

 Nevada and the llocky Mountains. It is exclusively an inhabitant of the 

 *' sage brush," and is partial to the lower portions of the country, though 

 it is not unfrequent on the open slope of the mountains. A more unappro- 

 priate term than " Mountain Mocking- Bird " could hardly have been chosen 

 for this species, as its predilection for the valleys, and the fact that its song 

 is fntirch/ its own, will show. In my o[>inion, the term " Sage Thrasher " 

 would l»e more appropriate. 



In the neighborhood of Carson City, Xe\ada, these birds arrived about the 

 24th of ^larch, and immediately upon their arrival began singing. At this 

 time, with the Starnclla iirf/hrfa and Poospiza helli, they made sweet music 

 in the afternoon and early morning, in the open wastes of "sage brush," 

 around the city. The birds when singing were generally seen sitting upon 

 the summit of a " sage " bush, faintly warbling, in the course of the song 

 turning the head from side to side in a watchful manner. Upon being 

 approached, they would dart downward, seemingly diving into the bush upon 

 which they had perched, but u})on a close search the bird could not l»e 

 found, until it was heard again singing a hundred yards or more in the 



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