"One so little and one so big! Mother had a Mockingbird in a cage once, but it got out and flew away to live in the park, she thought." "They are cousins and belong to the same large family, though to different households, like House People.
"The Sage Thrasher belongs only to the West, just as its relative the Brown Thrasher belongs to the eastern part of the country.

When your Cousin Olive and I lived one summer here and there, from Colorado westward, it was this bird that made us feel at home by its sweet sociable music.
"Everywhere in that mountainous region the sagebrush, with its blue flower spikes, spreads over the ground, making a silvery greenness where other plants could not grow.

In and out of the sage, nests and scratches and hops this Thrasher, taking its name from the plant.

He also ventures up on the mountain sides, giving his inquisitive, questioning, mocking notes, and so earns a second name in those places, where he is called the Mountain Mockingbird.
"Though he is a good deal smaller than the true Mockingbird of the South, they have many points in common.

They can both imitate almost any sound that strikes their fancy, such as the songs of other birds, whistle various tunes of their own, and almost mock the peculiarities of human speech.