194 
MOUNTAIN MOCKING-BIRD. 
Orpheus montanus, Towns. 
PLATE CXXSIX.— Male. 
This interesting and hitherto unfigured species was procured on the Rocky 
Mountains by Mr. Townsend, who forwarded a single specimen to Phila- 
delphia, where I made a drawing of it. The following notice by Mr. 
Nuttall shews that it is nearly allied in its habits to the Mocking-bird : — 
“ On the arid plains of the central table-land, betwixt the northern sources 
of the Platte and the Colorado of the West, in the month of June, we 
frequently heard the cheering song of this delightful species, whose notes 
considerably resemble those of the Brown Thrush, with some of the 
imitative powers of the Mocking-bird. For a great part of the day, and 
especially early and late, its song resounds through the desert plains, as it 
warbles to its mate from some tall weed or bush of wormwood, and 
continues with little interruption nearly for an hour at a time. We met 
with it in the plains exclusively, till our arrival at Wallah Wallah, but we 
are not certain of having seen it in any part of California, it being apparently 
entirely confined to the cooler and open regions of the Rocky Mountains. 
Just before arriving at Sandy Creek of the Colorado, while resting for 
refreshment at noon, I had the good fortune to find the nest in a wormwood 
bush, on the margin of a ravine, from whence the male was singing with its 
usual energy. It contained four almost emerald green eggs, spotted with 
dark olive of two shades, more numerous towards the greater end, the spots 
large and roundish. The nest itself was made of small twigs and rough 
stalks, lined with stripes of bark and bison wool. The female flew off to a 
little distance, and looked on her unwelcome and unexpected visiter, without 
uttering either call or complaint.” 
Orpheus montanus, Mountain Mocking-bird , Towns., Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila- 
delphia, vol. vii. p. 192. 
Mountain Mocking-bird, Turdus montanus , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 487. 
Bill of moderate length, rather slender, compressed, straightish, pointed ; 
upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly declinato-arcuate, the sides 
convex toward the end, the edges sharp, with a slight sinus close to the 
narrow declinate tip ; lower mandible with the angle short and narrow the 
