TLKDiD.K — TiiK Tiiursiri';s. 33 



its food ill tlii'^ ]K)siti(tii. (u'lienil Couch speaks of it as Sparrow-lilve in its 

 habits. 



Mv. Niittall dt'scrihes its song as cliocrinji;, and the notes of whieli it is 

 composed as decidedly resend)linj,' those of tiie Ih-own Tinnisli (Ifnrpo- 

 rln/iiflins rn/iis). lie claims for it some of tlie imitative powers of the 

 ]\Iocldn<i-I>ird (Mimn.i jxi/i/i/loMux), but in this lie is not supported by tho 

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

 bush on the border of a ravine ; it contained four e,L,'},'s of emei'ald green, 

 si)otted with dark olive, the spots being large, roundish, and more numerous 

 at the lai'ger end. The nest was composed of small twigs and rough stalks, 

 and lined with strijts of bark and l)ison-wool. The female flew off to a short 

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

 ])laint. 



The nests of this bird, so far as I have seen them, are all Hat, shallow 

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

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

 l)aceous jilants. Tlieir eggs, usually four in mnnber, do not vary essentially 

 in size, shape, or marking. Tluy measure 1 inch in length, and from .73 to 

 .7") in breadth. Their ground color is a bright green ish-))lue, marked with 

 dee]) olive-brown spots, iutermingkid with lilotches of a light lilac. There 

 are slight variations in the proportion of green in the shade of the ground 

 color, and also in the nund)er and size of tlK! spots, but these variations are 

 unimportant. 



The following are IVfr. Ifidgway's ol)servations upon the haliits of this 

 species. They are full, valualile, aiul very carefully made : — 



The Oiroaropfia inontitiins is a bird ]»eculiar to the artemisia wastes of the 

 Great 15asin, licing a characteristic species of the region between the Sierra 

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

 " sago brush," and is partial to the lower portions of the country, though 

 it is not unfreiiuent on the open slojie of the mountains. A more uiiappro- 

 priate term than "Mountain Mocking- 1 )ird " could hardly have been chosen 

 for this species, as its ])re(lilection for the valleys, and the fact that its song 

 is I'utiirfi/ its own, will show. In my oi)inion, tlie term "Sage Thrasher" 

 would be more appro})riate. 



In tiie neighborhood of ("arson City, Xtivada, the.se birds arrived about the 

 24th of March, antl immediately ujwn tlieir arrival began singing. At this 

 time, with the Stiirnclla iieif/trfa. and Poonpixn he/li, they made sweet nnisic 

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

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

 the sununit of a ".sage" liusli, faintly warbling, in the course of the song 

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

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

 which they had ju'rched, li\it upon a close search the Itird could not Ih^ 

 found, until it was heanl again singing a hundred yards or more in tho 

 6 



