VOL. III.] Habits of Pahner s Thrasher. 247 



season, which alternates between the latter part of February and 

 the beginning of April. At first I was inclined to attribute this dif- 

 ference to climate causes, but subsequent events modified my opinion 

 in that direction. A cold winter followed by a late nesting led to the 

 former belief, but a still colder winter and an earlier nesting upset 

 my theory on that proposition. March i, 1889, the young were al- 

 ready in the nests. February 28, 1886, my notes show two nests 

 of three eggs each. March 28, 1887, is my first record. Although 

 I had watched diligently for weeks and found many finished nests. 

 March 3 opened the season for 1888 and March 15 for 1889, al- 

 though the season was not fairly under way till two weeks later. 

 The season of 1887 was characterized by the smallness of the 

 clutches, two eggs as a rule being the maximum number laid, that 

 of i88g being marked by the other extreme, the complement being 

 seldom less than three but more generally four. Although the 

 season ot 1888 opened early in March it was not until March 12 that 

 I visited the principal cactus belts within a radiiis of about twelve 

 miles east and south of Tucson, and of the fifteen nests examined 

 one contained two eggs; two, three eggs each; five, two young 

 each, and two contained one young each. Three nests were ap- 

 parently ready for eggs and two were in course of construction. 

 The young in two nests were apparently ten days old and from that 

 age they graduated down to the chipped shell. On the i8th I 

 worked the cactus north of Tucson. I found one nest with two 

 well developed young, one ready for eggs, one with one young 

 fledged and sitting in the bush, two with three eggs each and one 

 with one young, one about a week old. March 25 I partially cov- 

 ered the g-round that I had been over on the 12th east of Fort 

 Lowell, following down the Rillito a dry wash and a roaring torrent 

 at different seasons of the year. The young had almost invariably 

 left their nests and were sitting in the bush or running around with 

 the old ones. The broods varied in size from one to three. The 

 season of 1889 did not fairly open till the first week in April, when 

 it opened with a rush, the birds being more numerous and clutches 

 larger than on preceding years. April 3, I noted nine nests con- 

 taining three eggs each; April 10, five of three; April 13, nine of 

 four, twelve of three and two of two eggs each; April 14, two of 

 four and eleven of three each; April 16, four of four; 17th, three of 

 four and eleven of thrte; 27th, six of four and eight of three; 30th, 



