274 



LAND BIRDS 



his favorite haunts, and from the top of this stunted, 



grayish green vegetation, ■ 

 he peals out the earliest 

 greeting to the day. So 

 loud and so enthusi- 

 astic is his song that 

 it can be heard nearly 

 t half a mile away. As 

 the sun rises and the air 

 grows hotter his nmsic 

 ceases, and he skulks 

 ■ among the sagebrush 

 until evening, when he 

 sings again, sometimes far 

 into the night. If you 

 have camped in this 

 dreary waste with the marvel- 

 lously bright stars overhead 

 and the silence of the desert 

 around you like a tomb, the 

 song of the Leconte Thrasher, 

 breaking the mysterious still- 

 ness, has seemed the sweet- 

 est music ever heard by mortal ears. 



711. Leconte Thbashek. 



"He loves the barrenness of the 

 desert." 



712. CRISSAL THRASHER. — Toxostoma crissale. 

 Family : The Wrens, Thrashers, etc. 



Length: 11.40-12.60. 



AduUs : Bill long, sharply curved ; upper parts plain grayish hrown, 

 the tail darker and faintly tipped with rufous ; under parts dark fawn 

 or grayish ; the chin and throat nearly white ; under tail-coverts 



