690 The Sparrow-like Birds 



on the ground amongst undergrowth searching through the fallen leaves for its 

 food. It is an active, rather shy bird, ordinarily avoiding as much as possible 

 the immediate haunts of man and resenting intrusion, though occasionally nest- 

 ing in secluded gardens. The nest is concealed in the interior of dense thorn- 

 bushes, hedges, thickets overgrown with wild grapevines, or rarely on the ground 

 under low bushes; it is composed exteriorly of small branches, twigs, grass, 

 and plant stems, etc., and lined with leaves, soft grasses, and rootlets. The 

 four or five or rarely six eggs are bluish or greenish white, thickly sprinkled 

 with minute rusty brown dots. Although usually so shy, when the male is 

 singing he mounts to the summit of a tree and for hours together pours forth 

 his sweet and powerful song. Of its quality Mr. Nehrling says: "It flows along 

 like a clear, powerful stream, occasionally sinking into soft complaint as of 

 longing, then changing suddenly and becoming louder, fuller, livelier, till the 

 air fairly resounds with the bird's exultant joy. This song, most eager toward 

 the end of May and the beginning of June, is indescribably charming and beauti- 

 ful. It consists entirely of original notes, those of other birds never entering 

 into its composition." 



Crissal Thrasher. Among the other forms we will only mention the Crissal 

 Thrasher (T. crissale) of the southwest from western Texas to the Colorado 

 Desert and California, a species easily distinguished by its slender and strongly 

 curved bill, grayish brown color, and deep rufous or chestnut under tail-coverts. 

 It inhabits by preference bushy places in the vicinity of watercourses in the 

 lower valleys, but also the oak-clad foot-hills to an altitude of 5000 feet, and is 

 highly terrestrial, running swiftly on the ground from one bush to the next, 

 often jerking upward its long tail. It is omnivorous, insects constituting an 

 important part of its food, but in season it is also partial to berries, wild grapes, 

 and the fruits of a thorny species of haw (Crat&gus). It builds a bulky nest 

 of sticks and thorny twigs and lined with fine, withered grasses, stems of plants, 

 and shredded inner bark, and usually places it in a low dense bush only three 

 or four feet from the ground. The two to four eggs are pale greenish blue and 

 unmarked. The Crissal Thrasher possesses, according to Dr. Mearns, a song 

 of very "remarkable scope and sweetness, having the power of the Mocking- 

 bird, and an evenness and perfect modulation which that bird may well envy. 

 It is one of the few birds that truly sing. It is no warbler of pretty ditties, nor 

 yet a medley singer like the eastern Thrasher or the Mockingbird, but discourses 

 pure natural music from the top of the tallest bushes, where it perches with its 

 tail hanging down, in precisely the same attitude as the Brown Thrasher of the 

 east." 



THE DIPPERS 



(Family Cinclida) 



Although the Dippers, or Water Ouzels, constitute among themselves a very 

 well defined group of birds, their relationship to other groups is by no means 

 so clear and their systematic position has given rise to considerable discussion 



