Sage Thrasher

SCI Name:  Oreoscoptes montanus
Protonym:  Orpheus montanus J.Acad.Nat.Sci.Philadelphia 7 p.192
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Mimidae / Oreoscoptes
Taxonomy Code:  sagthr
Type Locality:  'plains of the Rocky Mountains'' = Sandy Creek, lat. 42° N., long. 109° 30'' W., Wyoming.
Author:  Townsend, JK
Publish Year:  1837
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

OREOSCOPTES
(Mimidae; Ϯ Sage Thrasher O. montanus) Gr. ορος oros, ορεος oreos  mountain (i.e. Rocky Mts., USA); σκωπτης skōptēs  mocker  < σκωπτω skōptō  to mock; "255. Oreoscoptes montanus, (Towns.) Baird.  Mountain Mocking Bird.  Rocky mountains from Fort Bridger south to Mexico; along valley of Gila and Colorado; San Diego, California   ...   OROSCOPTES, Baird    CH.—Culmen only slightly curved towards the tip.  Bill longer and slenderer than in Mimus; nearly equal to the head.  Wings decidedly longer than the tail; rather pointed; the first primary less than half the second, which is a quarter of an inch shorter than the third.  Tail rounded, scarcely graduated.   In general appearance the species resembles Toxostoma rufum, though the longer and more pointed wings, shorter and scarcely graduated tail, and rather shorter bill, which is rather more notched, will at once distinguish them. The shape of the bill is almost precisely the same. In the long, pointed, and little concave wings, with the but slightly graduated tail, there is an approach to the true thrushes.  ...  It is very different from the typical Mimus in the tail and wings, as well as the longer, slenderer, and straighter bill." (Baird 1858); "Oreoscoptes Baird, 1858, in Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence, Rep. Expl. Surv. R. R. Pac., 9, p. "xxxxv" = xxxv. Type, by monotypy, Orpheus montanus Townsend." (Davis & Miller in Peters 1960, IX, 449). The Sage Thrasher was formerly known as the Mountain Mockingbird.
Var. Oroscoptes.

montanum / montanus
L. montanus  found on mountains, mountain-, mountaineer  < mons, montis  mountain.
● “We saw abundance of these birds in the mountainous Countries of Stiria and Carinthia, as we travelled from Vienna to Venice” (Ray 1678); "98. FRINGILLA.  ...  montana.  28. F. remigibus rectricibusque fuscis, corpore griseo nigroque, alarum fascia alba gemina.  Passer montanus. Aldr. orn. t. 15. c. 15. Olin. av. 46. Raj, av. 87.  Habitat in Europa.  Simillima Fr. domesticæ sed minor & fascia duplex in alarum tegetibus alba s. tectrices alarum primi secundique ordinis albi, at in F. domestica tantum secundi." (Linnaeus 1758) (Passer).
● Montana, USA (subsp. Junco oreganus).
● Montana Sierra, Valle, Venezuela (syn. Megascops choliba crucigerus).
● ex “Braunes Feldhuhn” of Frisch 1733-1763, “Perdix montana” of Brisson 1760, and “Perdrix de montagne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 136, and de Buffon 1770-1783 (syn. Perdix perdix).
● ex “Merula montana” of Brisson 1760, and “Merle de montagne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 182 (syn. Turdus torquatus).