This species has been obtained on the southern coast of California, and through to the valleys of the Gila and the Rio Grande. In California it was obtained near San Francisco by Mr. Cutts and Mr. Hepburn; at Santa Clara by Dr. Cooper; at Monterey by Dr. Canfield; in the Sacramento Valley by Dr. Heermann; at San Diego by Dr. Hammond; at Fort Tejon by Mr. Xantus; at Saltillo, Mexico, by Lieutenant Couch; in New Mexico by Captain Pope; and at Fort Thorn by Dr. Henry.
Lieutenant Couch describes it as a shy, quiet bird, and as found in woody places.
Dr. Kennerly met with this bird at Pueblo Creek, New Mexico, January 22, 1854. It first attracted his attention early in the month of January, in the Aztec Mountains, along Pueblo Creek. There it was often met with, but generally singly. It inhabited the thickest bushes, and its motions were so constant and rapid, as it hopped from twig to twig, that they found it difficult to procure specimens. Its flight was rapid, and near the ground.
Dr. Cooper speaks of this species as a common and resident bird in all the lower districts of California, and to quite a considerable distance among the mountains. It was also found on the islands of Catalina and San Clemente, distant sixteen miles from the mainland. Though found in New Mexico, Dr. Cooper has met with none in the barren districts between the Coast Range and the Colorado, nor in the valley of the latter.
Their favorite residence is said to be in thickets and in oak groves, where they live mostly on the ground, scratching among the dead leaves in the concealment of the underbrush, and very rarely venturing far from such shelter. They never fly more than a few yards at a time, and only a few feet above the ground. In villages, where they are not molested, they soon become more familiar, take up their abodes in gardens, and build their nests in the vicinity of houses.
Dr. Cooper gives them credit for little musical power. Their song is said to be only a feeble monotonous trill, from the top of some low bush. When alarmed, they have a note something like the mew of a cat. On this account they are popularly known as Catbirds. He adds that the nest is made on the ground, under a thicket, and that it is constructed of dry leaves, stalks, and grass, mingled with fine roots. The eggs, four or five in number, are greenish-white, minutely speckled with reddish-brown, and measure one inch by .70.
Dr. Coues found this species a very abundant and resident species in Arizona. It was rather more numerous in the spring and in the fall than at other times. He found it shy and retiring, and inhabiting the thickest brush. Its call-note is said to be almost exactly like that of our eastern Catbird. He describes its song as a rather harsh and monotonous repetition of four or six syllables, something like that of the Euspiza americana. He found females with mature eggs in their ovaries as early as May 5.
A nest of this species, collected by Mr. Ridgway near Salt Lake City,
May 26, was built on the ground, among scrub-oak brush. It is a very slight structure, composed almost entirely of coarse dry stems of grass, with a few bits of coarse inner bark, and with a base made up wholly with the latter material, and having a diameter of about four inches.
The eggs of this nest, four in number, have an average measurement of .95 of an inch in length by .73 in breadth. Their ground-color is crystalline-white, covered very generally with spots and small blotches of purplish and wine-colored brown, somewhat aggregated at the larger end.