400 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Altar, and Sonoyta) ; extreme southeastern California (Bard) ; and 

 Arizona (Castle Dome Mountains, Harqua Hala Mountains, and Hack- 

 berry) . An isolated colony has become established in the Black Mesa 

 near Kenton, Cimarron County, Okla. 



The range as outlined is for the entire species, three subspecies of 

 which occur within the United States. Palmer's thrasher {T. c. 

 palmeri) is found in southern Arizona and Sonora; the plateau 

 thrasher {T. e. celsum) occurs from extreme southeastern Arizona, 

 southern New Mexico, and western Texas, south to northeastern Jalisco 

 and northwestern Guanajuato; the Brownsville thrasher {T. c. 

 oherholsen) occurs in extreme southern Texas and northeastern 

 Mexico ; Coahuila to Tamaulipas. 



The species occurs in winter throughout its range but some indi- 

 viduals apparently withdraw from the northern sections. 



Casual records. — A specimen was collected at Spur, Tex., on Novem- 

 ber 12, 1931 ; from April 19 to May 4, 1936, from 1 to 5 were seen at 

 North Platte, Nebr., and a specimen collected on May 2 ; one was seen 

 daily from June 5 to 11, 1932, near Pensacola, Fla., and it was collected 

 on the latter date. 



Egg dates. — Arizona : 7 records, April 19 to May 24. 



Texas: 110 records, March 12 to August 1; 60 records, April 24 to 

 May 23, indicating the height of the season. 



Mexico: 38 records, March 1 to July 24; 20 records, April 8 to 

 May 28. 



TOXOSTOMA CURVIROSTRE OBERHOLSERI Law 



BROWNSVILLE THRASHER 

 HABITS 



In naming and describing this subspecies, J. Eugene Law (1928) 

 says: "The white terminal spots of the lateral rectrices combined 

 with the near-equal length of wing and tail differentiate oberholseri 

 from palnieri^ occidentalis and maculata of the Pacific watershed. 

 From curvirostris, its nearest neighbor, of the continental highlands, 

 oberholseri only differs in shorter length of wing and tail. * * * 

 The material at hand does not carry this small race [the smallest of 

 the species] out of the lowlands of southern Texas and of northeast- 

 ern Mexico (Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila). More than 

 75 percent of the stations recorded on the labels of the series exam- 

 ined are under 500 feet altitude ; none apparently is over 2,000 feet." 



We found this thrasher rather common in Cameron and Hidalgo 

 Counties in southern Texas, especially in the more open growth of 

 chaparral where there was a scattered growth of prickly pear cac- 

 tus. George B. Sennett (1879) says: "This species, like the Long- 

 billed, is usually more fond of dense cover than the Mockingbird, and 

 while not often found, in the heaviest timber, yet will be found in the 

 thickets common on the edges of such tracts. In open woodland, 

 where clumps of tall thorny bushes and cacti surround the scattered 



