52 SONG AND NEST OF THE MOUNTAIN MOCKINGBIRD 



sage-brush, and with their rich notes are heard the sweet warb- 

 lings of Oroscoptes montaiius. To-day we heard this song in all 

 its loveliness. Although weaker than that of either the Brown 

 Thrasher or the Catbird, it is more varied and longer sustained 

 as well as superior in sweetness and delicacy of tone. The 

 song has, iu modulation or style, a great resemblance to the 

 soft tender warbling of ths Euby-crowned Kinglet, although 

 it is stronger, of course, iu proportion to the size of the bird. 



^^ April 9.— The Sage Thrasher is now one of the most com- 

 mon birds in this vicinity. Today a great many were noticed 

 among the brush-heaps in the city cemetery. Its manners dur- 

 ing the pairing season are peculiar. The males, as they flew^ 

 before us, were observed to keep up a peculiar tremor or flutter- 

 ing of the wings, warbling as they flew, and upon alighting 

 (generally upon the fence or a bush), raised the wings over the 

 back, with elbows together, quivering with joy as they sang. ; 



"April 23. — Although we saw these birds everywhere among 

 the sage-brush, their nests were found only with great diffi- 

 culty. In the cemetery, the sage bushes had all been pulled 

 up and thrown in piles in different parts of the inclosure, and 

 upon these the birds were most frequently seen. On one occa- 

 sion, a female was observed to fly into one of these brush-heaps, 

 with a bunch of building material in her mouth ; but it was 

 only by taking off bush after bush that the nest was discov- 

 ered; this, though unfinished, contained one egg, and, in its 

 construction and situation, resembled some of the nests of the 

 Thrasher, though less bulky. The bushes were carefully re- 

 placed, and the nest left undisturbed. In walking through the 

 sage-brush on the open commons, several more nests were 

 found, in similar situations, being placed in the thickest por- 

 tion of the bushes, generally about two feet from the ground, 

 but occasionally imbedded in the ground beneath them. They 

 were all well concealed. At one time, while blowing some eggs, 

 the parent birds came near us, running gracefully upon the 

 ground in the manner of a Eobiu, stretching their necks, curi- 

 ous to see what we were doing, and watching our movements 

 with an anxious look, but uttering no note whatever. 



" The only note of this species, besides its song, is simplj' a 

 weak ' /mc/.;', seldom uttered unless the young are disturbed; 

 .except during the pairing and nesting seasons, it is one of the 

 most silent birds with which I am acquainted,^^ In September 

 I saw it feeding upon the ' service-berries,' which grew abund- 

 antly in certain localities at the foot of tlie mountains." 



