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MOUNTAIN MOCKING BIRD. 
TURDUS MONTANUS. 
PLATE CCCLXIX. Mate. 
Tuis interesting and hitherto unfigured species was procured on 
the Rocky Mountains by Dr Townsrnp, who forwarded a single spe- 
cimen to Philadelphia, where I made a drawing of it. The following 
notice by Mr Nurratt shews that it is nearly allied in its habits to 
the Mocking Bird :— 
“ On the arid plains of the central table-land, betwixt the northern 
sources of the Platte and the Colorado of the West, in the month of 
June, we frequently heard the cheering song of this delightful species, 
whose notes considerably resemble those of the Brown Thrush, with 
some of the imitative powers of the Mocking Bird. For a great part 
of the day, and especially early and late, its song resounds through the 
desert plains, as it warbles to its mate from some tall weed or bush of 
wormwood, and continues with little interruption nearly for an hour at 
a time. We met with it in the plains exclusively, till our arrival at 
Wallah Wallah, but we are not certain of having seen it in any part 
of California, it being apparently entirely confined to the cooler and 
open regions of the Rocky Mountains. Just before arriving at Sandy 
Creek of the Colorado, while resting for refreshment at noon, I had 
the good fortune to find the nest in a wormwood bush, on the margin 
of a ravine, from whence the male was singing with its usual energy. 
it contained four almost emerald green eggs, spotted with dark olive 
of two shades, more numerous towards the greater end, the spots large 
and roundish. The nest itself was made of small twigs and rough 
stalks, lined with stripes of bark and bison wool. ‘The female flew off 
to a little distance, and looked on her unwelcome and unexpected visi- 
tor, without uttering either call or complaint.” 
OrPHEUS MonTANUS, Mountain Mockine Birp, Townsend, Journal of Acad. of 
Nat. Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. vil. p. 192. 
Adult Male. Plate CCCLXIX. Fig. 1. 
