The California Thrasher 
color of back shading on sides to slightly lighter, grayer brown on breast; chin and throat 
light buff to whitish, shading posteriorly; crissum and flanks ochraceous tawny, shading 
insensibly on belly, through cinnamon-buff and pinkish buff to grayish buffy brown on 
breast. Bill black: feet brownish dusky iris brown. Length 11.00 to 12.03 (279.4- 
304.8); wing 102 (4.02); tail 130 (5.12); bill 36.3 (1.43); tarsus 38 (1.50). 
Recognition Marks. —Robin size; curve-billed; nearly uniform brown colora¬ 
tion; brilliant song (often confused with that of Mockingbird); coloration darker than 
in two succeeding species. 
Remark. —Specimens from interior and southern localities average slightly 
paler and grayer, and were formerly recognized by Grinnell under the name Toxostoma 
redivivum pasadenense. Specimens from the northern interior and the coastal region 
north of San Francisco Bay are slightly larger and darker, and have been described as 
T. redivivum sonomce Grinnell. 
Nesting. — Nest: A rough bowl of coarse interlaced sticks and finer twigs, 
lined with brown grasses, bark-strips, and rootlets, placed at moderate heights in bushes 
or trees, or well concealed in thickets. Eggs: 3 or 4; light niagara green, faintly and 
finely or sparingly and rather coarsely spotted with reddish brown. Av. size 29 x 21.1 
(1.14 x .83). Season: March-June; one or two broods. 
General Range. —“Foothills and valleys of California west of the Sierra Nevada, 
breeding in Sonoran zones from Shasta County south to the San Pedro Martir Moun¬ 
tains and San Quentin, Lower California” (A. 0 . U. Check-List). 
Authorities. — Milet-Mureau ( Promerops de la Californie Septentrionale) , Voy. 
de la Perouse, 1797, Atlas, pi. 37 (Monterey); Gambel (Herpes rediviva), Proc. Acad. 
Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. ii., 1845, p. 264 (orig. desc.); Merriam, F. A., Auk, vol. xiii., 1896, 
p. 121 (habits); Grinnell, Auk, vol. xv., 1898, p. 237 (desc. Harporhynchus redivivus 
pasadenensis, Pasadena); ibid., Condor, vol. ii., 1900, p. 19 (nesting in Dec.); ibid , vol. 
xxiii., 1921, p. 165 (syst.; T. r. pasadenense relegated to syn ,)\Beal, U. S. Dept. Agric., 
Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 30, 1907, p. 55 (food); Oberholser, Auk, vol. xxxv., 1918, p. 52 
(syst.; syn., meas., range, crit.). 
HOMELY APOLLO, historian of the chaparral, poet of the common 
weed, apostle of dewy morn, mediator of sun and shadow, woodland 
recluse, and shy intimate of back-yard tryst, minstrel alike of blue-gray- 
green spring and dun summer, brown wraith of California, thou dost 
work alike havoc in our gardens, harmony in our ears, and a heavenly 
hubbub in our hearts. Would, oh, would that there were more of thee, 
and more beautiful and more constant. 
The California Thrasher is preeminently a chaparral bird, and as 
such enjoys a fairly uniform distribution up to about 6000 feet, ft seeks 
its food chiefly upon the ground, where it rustles among the leaves and 
fallen wastage for beetles, ants, and scattered seeds. After a fresh rain 
it loves to delve in the earth itself—for grubs and cut-worms, however, 
rather than buried seeds; and the “havoc” wrought occasionally in an out¬ 
lying garden is really beneficial plowing. Berries and wild fruit are 
eaten freely in season; and Rhus seeds, both harmless and poisonous, 
are a staple article of diet. The bird is strong on its feet, but rather 
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