WRENS, THRASHERS, ETC. 441 



When he is singing, the thrasher's bill makes him look comically as 

 if he were trying to turn himself inside out ; but the bill, awkward 

 as it appears, is really an admirable pickaxe. Instead of having to 

 depend on his feet for scratching away the leaves, as the short- 

 billed birds do, the thrasher clears the ground by rapid strokes of 

 the bill, and then probes the earth with it for his food. 



710a. T. r. pasadenense GrinnelL PASADENA THRASHER. 



Similar to redivivum, but duller ; throat ichite ; chest band darker than in 

 redivivum. Wing: 3.92, tail 5.30, bill from nostril 1.21. 



Distribution. Interior of southern California. 



711. Toxostoma lecontei Lawr. LECONTE THRASHER. 



Adults. Upper parts pale brownish gray; wings unmarked ; tail dis- 

 tinctly tipped with lighter ; throat 

 white ; rest of under parts dove color 

 and whitish; undfr tail coverts bright 

 tawny broirn. Young : similar, but 

 upper tail coverts more rusty, and 

 under tail coverts paler. Length : 10.50-11.00, wing 3.70-3.90, tail 4.57- 

 5.20, bill 1.08-1.35. 



Distribution. Resident in Lower Sonoran zone in the desert region 

 from southwestern Utah to southern California, and south to Sonora. 

 Mexico. 



Nest. Very bulky, composed of thorny twigs, grasses, and weeds. 

 lined with grass and feathers, and placed in cactus bushes or mesquite 

 trees. Eggs : 3 or 4, pale bluish green or greenish blue, minutely and 

 rather sparsely speckled with reddish brown, or yellowish brown and 

 lavender. 



In the lowest, hottest, barest deserts of the country, where 

 dwarfed thorn bushes, queer species of cactus, and rigid Spanish 

 bayonets space the baked mesas and valleys, the Leconte thrasher 

 is one of the most interesting bits of desert life. The sand-colored 

 bird seems, like all of its surroundings, to have had the color baked 

 out of it, or like them to have taken on the colors which best fit it 

 to endure the desert temperature, sometimes 130 in the shade, and 

 much higher in the glaring sun. After a cool night on the desert 

 in March, when the morning air is loaded with the fragrance of 

 abronias, yuccas, and primroses, and the crimson and gold cups of 

 the cactus are brilliant among the creosote bushes, the thrashers are 

 heard fairly splitting their throats from the mesquite tops, and seen 

 running about chasing each other over the bare stretches between 

 the bushes. Later in the day they rest in the shade of the chapar- 

 ral, and if frightened simply run from one cover to another, rarely 

 flying to escape pursuit. They easily outrun a man, and if followed 

 soon disappear, going with head low and tail straight out behind 

 like the road -runner, keeping always on the far side of each bunch 

 of bushes. With a good horse one can usually force them to take 



