WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 269 



and under tail-coverts ; the cliest, breast, and sides thickly marked 



with wedge-shaped longitudinal spots and streaks of dusky. 

 Young: Similar to adult, but upper parts indistinctly streaked with 



darker, and streaks on under parts less sharply defined. 

 Geographical Distribution : Sagebrush plains of Western United States, 



from Montana south in winter to Mexico. 

 California Breeding Range: In upper Sonoran zone southeast of the 



Sierra Nevada. 

 Breeding Season : March to July. 

 Nest : A loose, bulky structure ; made of bark strips, small twigs, dry 



sage shreds ; lined with fine stems and rootlets, and sometimes hair ; 



placed generally in sagebrush from 10 inches to 3 feet from the ground. 

 Eggs ; 3 to 5 ; rich greenish blue, spotted with bright reddish brown. 



Size 0.95 X 0.70. 



Even amid the sands and barrenness of the sage- 

 brush district, you may hear the full, sweet song of the 

 Thrasher and dream that you are in a shady nook of 

 New England with a babbling brook at your feet and 

 the thick green canopy of vines overhead, — that is, if 

 you close your eyes and forget the glare of the desert 

 sunshine. What a medley of music he pours from that 

 full throat ! It is a sort of " rag-time," and uncon- 

 sciously you interpret it in words as mixed as the tune. 

 Who else can do it but the brown thrasher of the East ? 

 It is somewhat of a shock to open your eyes and see 

 the grayish bird singing in the top of the low sage- 

 bush with, maybe, not a tree in sight. But his droop- 

 ing tail and raised biU proclaim him a true thrasher for 

 all his queer environment. Somewhere in the sage- 

 brush his mate is patiently brooding on the four or five 

 blue eggs. For fourteen days she keeps to her appointed 

 task, and then her busy life begins anew. There are 

 naked nestlings to be fed, and all the food must be 

 swallowed by the adult before the delicate baby throats 



