CHARACTERS OF H. CURVIROSTRIS AND VAR. 65 



6. palmeri. 



HarporhynchUS curyirostrls, Heerm. PRRR. x. 1859, Parke's Route, 11 (Arizona.— Heer- 

 mann's specimen, No. 8128, Mus. Smiths., afterward became a type of var. palmeri). — 

 Cones, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1868, 83 (Arizona).— (7o!ifs, Key, 1872, 75. 



HarporbynchU8 CUrvirostrls var. palmeri, Ridgw. MSS.— Cones, Key, 1872, 35\.— Cones, 

 Am. Nat. vii. 1873, 329, &g.68.— Brewer, Pt. Bost. Soc. xvi. 1873, 108 (eggs).— S. B. .V iJ. 

 NAB. i. 1874, 43 (Tucson, Ariz.).— Hensh. List B. Ariz. 1875, \5i.—He7ish. Zool. Expl. 

 W. 100 Merid. 1876, 156 (Arizona). 



Hab. — Of the typical form, from the valley of the Rio Grtiude along the 

 border of the United States, to Mazatlan, aud southward iu Mexico. Var. 

 palmeri has only been found iu Arizona. 



Ch. sp. a. CURVIROSTRIS. — Fusco-cinereus, alls cauddqiie 

 fuscis; infra alhidns, macuUs rotmidatis fnsco-cinereis nehuloso- 

 notatus, hi/pot'hondriis crissoqiit ochraceo-tinctis, alls alho bifasci- 

 atis, Cauda albo-terminatd. 



$ 9 '• Above, uniform brownish-gray (exactly the color of a Mockingbird, 

 M. ])ohjglottus), the wings and tail darker and purer brown. Below, dull 

 whitish, tinged with ochraceous, especially on the flanks and crissum.and 

 marked with rounded spots of the color of the back, most numerous and 

 blended on the breast. Throat quite white, immaculate, without maxillary 

 stripes; lower belly and crissum mostly free from spots. No decided mark- 

 ings on the side of the head. Ends of greater and median wing-coverts 

 white, forming two decided cross-bars; tail-feathers distinctly tipped with 

 white. Bill black ; feet dark-brown. Length of (^ , about 11 inches ; wing, 

 4i-4i ; tail,4^-r>; bill, 1^; tarsus, IJ ; middle toe and claw, 1^. $ averaging 

 rather smaller. 



' 'I 



Fig. 9. — Head of Curve-billed Thrasher (var.); nat. size. 



1). PALMERI. — Similis; fascHs alarum et apicibus recfrieum 

 albis obsoletis; infra griseoalbiduSj rufo-tinctus, maculis fusco- 

 cinereis obsoletis; rostro graciliore. 



Although the differences between this and the typical form are not very 

 easy to express, yet they are readily appreciable on comparison of specimens, 

 and fully warrant Mr. Ridgway's discrimination of a var. palmeri. The upper 

 parts are quite similar; but the under parts, instead of being whitish, with 

 decided spotting of the color of the back, are grayish, tinged with rusty, 

 especially behind, and the spotting is nebulous. The white on the ends of 

 wing-coverts and tail-feathers is reduced to a niinimnm or entirely suppressed. 

 The bill is slenderer and apparently more curved in all the specimens I 

 5 B 



