VOL. II. ] Habits of Palmer's Thrasher. Soaa7 
season, which alternates between the latter part of February and 
the beginning of April. At first I was inclined to attribute this dif- 
ference to climate causes, but subsequent events modified my opinion — 
in that direction. A cold winter followed by a late nesting led to the 
former belief, but a still colder winter and an earlier nesting upset 
my theory on that proposition. March 1, 1889, the young were al- 
ready in the nests. February 28, 1886, my notes show two nests 
of three eggs each. March 28, 1887, is my first record. Although 
I had watched diligently for weeks and found many finished nests. 
March 3 opened the season for 1888 and March 15 for 1889, al- 
though the season was not fairly under way till two weeks later. 
The season of 1887 was characterized by the smallness of the 
clutches, two eggs as a rule being the maximum number laid, that 
of 1889 being marked by the other extreme, the complement being 
seldom less than three but more generally four. Although the 
season ot 1888 opened early in March it was not until March 12 that 
I visited the principal cactus belts within a radius of about twelve 
miles east and south of Tucson, and of the fifteen nests examined 
one contained two eggs; two, three eggs each; five, two young 
each, and two contained one young each. Three nests were ap- 
parently ready for eggs and two were in course of construction. 
The young in two nests were apparently ten days old and from that 
age they graduated down to the chipped shell. On the 18th I 
worked the cactus north of Tucson. I found one nest with two 
well developed young, one ready for eggs, one with one young 
fledged and sitting in the bush, two with three eggs each and one . 
with one young, one about a week old. March 25 I partially cov- 
ered the ground that I had been over on the 12th east of Fort 
Lowell, following down the Rillito a dry wash and a roaring torrent 
at different seasons of the year. The young had almost invariably 
left their nests and were sitting in the bush or running around with 
the old ones. The broods varied in size from one to three. The 
season of 1889 did not fairly open till the first week in April, when 
it opened with a rush, the birds being more numerous. and clutches 
larger than on preceding years. April 3, I noted nine nests con- 
taining three eggs each; April 10, five of three; April 13, nine of 
four, twelve of three and two of two eggs each; April 14, two of 
four and eleven of three each; April 16, four of four; 17th, three of 
four and eleven of three; 27th, six of four and eight of three; 30th, 
