HAB. Rocky Mountains of United States, west to Pacific, south to Cape St. Lucas. [Illustration: _Oreoscoptes montanus._] The careful observations of Mr. Robert Ridgway have led him to the conviction that the name bestowed upon this species of “Mountain Mocking-Bird” is doubly a misnomer. It is not at all imitative in its notes, and it is almost exclusively a resident of the artemisia plains. It seems to be chiefly confined to the great central plateau of North America, from Mexico almost to Washington Territory. Specimens have been procured from Cape St. Lucas, the Lower Colorado, Mexico, and Texas, on the south, and Nuttall met with it nearly as far north as Walla-Walla. It probably occupies the whole extent of the Great Basin. Dr. Kennerly, who met with it while crossing the arid _mesas_ west of the Rio Grande, says that while singing it was usually perched upon some bush or low tree. It was frequently seen seeking its food upon the ground, and when approached, instead of flying away, it ran very rapidly, and disappeared among the low bushes. During the winter months it was observed near San Antonio, Texas, by Mr. Dresser; and was also found by him to be common about Eagle Pass. He noticed the same peculiarity of their running instead of their flying away when disturbed. They preferred the flat, bush-covered plains. A few remained to breed, as he obtained the eggs there, although he did not himself meet with one of the birds in summer. It is generally represented as keeping chiefly on the ground, and obtaining its food in this position. General Couch speaks of it as Sparrow-like in its habits. Mr. Nuttall describes its song as cheering, and the notes of which it is composed as decidedly resembling those of the Brown Thrush (_Harporhynchus rufus_). He claims for it some of the imitative powers of the Mocking-Bird (_Mimus polyglottus_), but in this he is not supported by the observations of others. He met with its nest in a wormwood (_Artemisia_) bush on the border of a ravine; it contained four eggs of emerald green, spotted with dark olive, the spots being large, roundish, and more numerous at the larger end. The nest was composed of small twigs and rough stalks, and lined with strips of bark and bison-wool. The female flew off to a short distance, and looked at her unwelcome visitors without uttering any complaint.