156 



ZOOLOGY BIRDS. 



mens taken by our party were found among the cactus plants, a predilec- 

 tion for which they seem to share with the following variety. They were 

 found breeding by Captain Bendire ; and by him I am informed that, unlike 

 the Palmer's Thrush, which almost invariably selects a cactus plant as the 

 site of its nest, the present bird as invariably places its nest in bushes, 

 especially in the mesqnite shrubs, and that to find a nest in one of these is 

 almost a guarantee of its ownership. In habits, they are wild and shy, at 

 least in the fall and winter, and, when alarmed, skulk from cactus to cactus, 

 and from one clump of bushes to another, so that it is no easy matter, even 

 after they are found, for one to procure the coveted prize. In the very 

 brief opportunity I enjoyed for seeing this species, I detected nothing in its 

 habits peculiarly distinguishing it from the following. 



DARPORHYNCnUS CURVIROSTRIS (Sw.) var. PALMERI, Ridgw. 



Palmer's Thrush. 



Harporhynchus curvirostris, COUES, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila., 1868, 83. 



Harporhynchus curvirostris var. palmcri, RIDGW., Rep. King's Exp., v, 1872. COUES, 

 Am. Nat., vii, 1873, 329, fig. GS.Td'., Key N. A. Birds, 1872, app., 351. 

 BD., BREW., & RIDG., N. A. Birds, i, 1874, 43, app., 500. 



This species appears to be as exclusive an inhabitant of the dreary 

 desert region as the preceding, and, like it, was met with by our party but 

 in the one locality mentioned above. Unlike the Bendire's Thrush, it was 

 here quite a common species, and its form easily distinguishable from all 

 other birds of the district, save the one just mentioned, by the peculiarities 

 of flight, and especially by the long tail, the weight of which seems, when 

 flying, to actually encumber the bird, and, as it were, to drag it down. 



Near a water-hole, some thirty miles from Camp Lowell, where is found 

 a meager supply of the precious fluid, which, from long standing, becomes 

 so stagnant and thick with mud that the thirsty animals which pass through, 



