BKEWSTER: BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 197 



merely indicated by small spaces of brownish or rusty white, confined to the 

 extreme ends of the feathers. 



The bill of this species is subject to considerable variation in size and 

 proportions, but its shape is fairly uniform. 



My series furnishes no evidence indicating that this Thrasher ever grades 

 into T. hendirei. 



The St. Lucas Thrasher is confined to Lower California. It is resident and 

 rather generally distributed in the Cape Eegion, where, however, it does not 

 seem to occur at elevations much exceeding 3,000 feet. Mr. Frazar found it 

 common in the nei;_;bborhood of La Paz and San Jose del Rancho, somewhat 

 less numerous at Triunfo, and " very scarce " at San Jose del Cabo. 



Mr. Bryant says that he met with it " throughout the overland route from 

 Comondu to San Quintin," but this was before T. c. mearnsi had been de- 

 scribed by Mr. Anthony, who states that his bird (which is decidedly darker 

 and more rusty colored than true cinereum) "is quite common about San 

 Quintin [the type locality], and in all suitable places as far south as I have 

 collected." From this we may infer that all the more northern portions of the 

 general range attributed to cinereum by Mr. Bryant are occupied by mearnsi, 

 but as to just where the two birds meet and intergrade we are left in complete 

 ignorance. 



Dr. Brewer states that Xantus found St. Lucas Thrashers with full-fledged 

 young as early as April 4, the date of his arrival at Cape St. Lucas, and that 

 they " continued to breed until the middle of July." The nests which he 

 took were " flat structures, having only a very slight depression in or near 

 their centre." They were built in "low trees, shrubs, and most usually, 

 cactus plants, and in no instance at a greater elevation from the ground than 

 four feet. . . . The eggs vary somewhat in their ground color, but exhibit 

 only slight variations in size or shape. Their greatest length is 1.13 inches, 

 and their average 1.12 inches. Their mean breadth is .77 inch, and their 

 maximum .79 inch. The ground color is a greenish-white, profusely marked 

 with spots of mingled purple and brown. In others the ground color is a 

 bluish-green. In some specimens the spots are of a yellowish-brown, and in 

 some the markings are much lighter." 



Three eggs in my collection, constituting a set taken at Cape St. Lucas on 

 May 30, 1896, by Messrs. Coolidge and Miller, measure respectively : 1.04 x 

 .79, 1.06 X .81, and 1.07 X .80. They are dull bluish white, with numerous 

 and very generally distributed markings of pale lavender and light reddish 

 brown. 



Heleodytes brunneioapillus affinis (Xantcs). 



St. Lucas Cactus Wren. 



Campylorhijnrhus affinis Xantcs, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 298 (orig. descr. ; 

 type from Cape St. Lucas). Baird, Ibid., 301 (Cape St. Lucas), 303, 304 

 (crit.; Cape St. Lucas) ; Rev. Amer. Birds, pt. L 1864, 98, 100, 101 (descr.; 



1 Auk, XII. 1895, 52, 53. 



