WRENS, THRASHERS, ETC. 439 



but is much less common, only a few of the brown birds being seen. 

 while the pale, clay-colored curve bill ranks as one of the commonest 

 brush birds. 



707. Toxostoma curvirostre (Swains.). CURVE -BILLED 



THRASHER. 



Adults.-- Upper parts light brownish gray ; wings with two narrow white 

 bars ; tail blackish, four pairs of outer feathers 

 strikingly tipped with white ; throat white ; 

 breast and sides thickly spotted and clouded 

 with gray ; flanks huffy. Young : similar, 



but wing 1 coverts and rump tinged with fulvous, and markings on breast 

 narrower and darker. Length : 10.50-11.40, wing 4. 15-4.50, tail 4.40-4.65, 

 exposed culmen 1.10-1.30. 



Distribution. Lower Sonoran zone from New Mexico and western Texas 

 to Oaxaca. Mexico. 



Nest. In cactus and trees, made of thorny twigs lined with a few 

 grasses. Eggs : 3 or 4, colored like those of palmeri. 



The curve-billed thrasher is abundant and tame as you go through 

 the thorn brush of southern Texas, especially as you approach 

 Mexico. Its big clay-colored figure is largely in evidence, perched 

 on the brush or flying on short wings with long tilting tail across the 

 road. Cactus, yuccas, and thorn brush are all liberally supplied 

 with its big thorny nests. When we were photographing one the 

 owner came so close that we could see the bright red of its eyes. As 

 the birds watched us they gave their liquid two-syllabled call, which 

 is one of the loud, dominant notes of the country. In a dry wash in 

 southern New Mexico, when we were preparing to photograph one 

 of the yucca nests, the brooding bird, who had been entirely hidden 

 by the yucca spears, quietly slipped out of the nest and disappeared 

 in the brush. 



707a. T. C. palmeri (Coues). PALMER THRASHER. 



Upper parts uniform dark brownish gray or grayish broicn : wings with 

 bars obsolete or wanting ; tail indistinctly tipped with lighter ; throat 

 whitish ; rest of under parts 

 grayish, obsoletely spotted with 

 darker. Length*: 11.00-11.50, 

 wing 4.20-4.C.O, tail 4.80-:>.i>0, 

 exposed culmen 1.18-1.40. F 'g- 563 - 



Distribution. Resident in Lower Sonoran zone in southern Arizona 

 and Sonora. Mexico. 



Nest . In cactus, of sticks, usually lined with dried grass. Eggs : 2 to 

 4, pale bluish green, finely and uniformly speckled with brown. 



The Palmer thrasher is abundant on the cactus deserts of southern 

 Arizona, being resident up to 3000 feet. 



708. Toxostoma bendirei (Coues). BENDIRE THRASHER. 



Upper parts pale grayish bro/oi : wings with indistinct bars; tail dark 



