VOL. III.] Habits of Palmer s Thrasher. 243 



red shales of Snow Mountain, Lake County, in flower and young 

 fruit. 



In habit this species is strikingly like the narrower -leaved forms 

 of the monotypic genus Zauschneria, and in conjunction with such 

 species as E. paniculatiivi and E. obcordatuvi , make that genus un- 

 tenable, there being no longer any definable and constant differ- 

 ence, however trivial, which can be used to separate them. 



THE HABITS AND NESTING OF PALMER'S THRASHER. 



( Harporhynclnis awvirostris pabneri.) 



BY HERBERT BROWN. 



In offermg these notes on the" habits and nesting of Palmer's and 

 Bendire's thrashers, I question much if I can say anything new in 

 regard to the former, inasmuch as it has long been under the ob- 

 servation of experienced naturalists. The bird is a common resident 

 of this portion of the Territory, and a notable feature of feathered 

 life in every cactus belt in Southern Arizona. Some years since, I 

 purchased a partial albino.''- I first saw it as a fledgling at a ranch 

 about forty-five miles west of Tucson, to which place the writer had 

 gone as one of a rescuing party; the sherifif of the county, while 

 endeavoring to arrest an Indian horsethief, had fallen into ambush 

 and was himself a captive. The bird had been taken from its nest 

 under the impression that it was a young mocking-bird. When I 

 again saw it some six months later, it was fully grown, and appar- 



*\xi general appearance it resembled H. c.palmeri. Poise and shape of head, length 

 and curve of mandibles, bold, bright yellowish gray eye and movements those of 

 palmeri, but the white markings gave it somewhat of a resemblance to M. poly- 

 glottos. If approached by a stranger when caged, it would ruffle its feathers, 

 open its tail like a fan and peck viciously at the hand, but to its owner, a young 

 fellow, whose both arms had been broken by an Apache bullet, it was all love and 

 affection. The first, fifth and ninth primary in the left wing were white, sixth, 

 seventh and eighth brownish gray, secondaries ashy gray, tertiaries white, stems of 

 all white feathers black. Right wing, first and fifth primaries w-hite, sixth brown- 

 ish gray, secondaries first two white, the next four brownish gray, tertiaries first 

 brown, second brown and white, third white, upper half of greater coverts white, 

 eighth, nine and tenth all white. Tail— eleven rectrices entirely white, barred with 

 faint waving lines of a darker color. Back, head and breast ashy gray, throat and 

 abdomen white, upper mandible black, lower mandible from base to angle of gonys, 

 white. 



