The Sage Thrasher 
inquiry. Dr. Grinnell 1 concluded a dozen years ago that it had increased 
about five times in numbers throughout the Pacific slope of Los Angeles 
County. There has certainly been a marked increase during my twelve 
years’ residence in Santa Barbara, which is rated an extreme section 
of the bird’s southern and residential range. In general, it may be said 
that the bird profits by the introduction of cultivation, and so long as 
no untoward event arises, we may expect an increasingly heavy popu¬ 
lation throughout those portions of California which do not suffer unduly 
from either heat or cold. In areas liable to frost, such as the elevated 
Owens Valley, the birds are present in summer only; while such as are 
found freely in winter upon the Mohave and Colorado deserts are sur¬ 
mised to be northern breeders only. A rather anomalous condition 
exists in the Pacific-bordering counties from Marin County south, for 
here Mockingbirds turn up irregularly in fall and winter only, adventurers, 
perhaps, from the crowded interior. 
No. 146 
Sage Thrasher 
A. O. U. No. 702. Oreoscoptes montanus (Townsend). 
Synonyms. — Sage Mocker. Mountain Mockingbird (early name—inapro- 
pos). 
Description. — Adults: General plumage ashy brown, lighter below; above 
grayish- or ashy-brown, the feathers, especially on crown, streaked mesially with 
darker brown; wings and tail dark grayish brown with paler edgings; middle and 
greater coverts narrowly tipped with whitish, producing two dull bars; outer rectrices 
broadly tipped with white, decreasing in area, till vanishing on central pair; lores 
grayish; a pale superciliary line; cheeks brownish varied by white; underparts whitish 
tinged with buffy brown, most strongly on flanks and crissum, everywhere (save, 
usually, on throat, lower belly, and under tail-coverts) streaked with dusky, the streaks 
tending to confluence along side of throat, sharply distinguished and wedge-shaped 
on breast, where also heaviest; bill blackish paling on mandible; legs and feet dusky 
brownish, the latter with yellow soles; iris lemon-yellow. Immature birds are browner 
and more decidedly streaked above; huffier and more broadly streaked below. Length 
203-222.3 (8.00-8.75); w >ng 97 (3.82); tail 90 (3.54); bill 16.4 (.65); tarsus 30.5 (1.20). 
Recognition Marks. —Towhee size; ashy-brown plumage appearing nearly 
uniform at distance, but underparts showing abundant spotting at near range; sage- 
haunting habits; impetuous song. 
1 “Distribution of the Mockingbird in California,” The Auk, Vol. XXVIII., July, 1911, pp. 293-300. 
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