384 BULLETIN 19 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



more common in the spring and during the breeding season than 

 during the late fall and winter months. * * * 



"In the foothills of the Catalinas the birds were not resident but 

 were present for about 8 months of the year, and were quite com- 

 mon during the breeding season, though they did not range above 

 4,000 feet. Here they arrive early in March, the 7th of that month 

 being the earliest record made, and begin mating and nesting almost 

 at once." 



Herbert Brown (1901) says: "During the winter months an occa- 

 sional one can be found in their usual habitat, but, as a whole, they go 

 south bodily on the first fall storm of wind and rain. The return 

 migration is more gradual, but always of uncertain date. I have 

 known the difference of a full month to exist in their homecoming in 

 two succeeding years. This was probably due to climatic conditions 

 further south." He gives February 9 as the earliest known date of 

 arrival, when "they were gathered in small flocks and were not mated." 



Nesting. — Our experience with the nesting of Bendire's thrasher in 

 Cochise and Pima Counties, Ariz., was limited to three nests, one 

 found April 26, 1922, with young, and two, found on May 23 and 

 June 11, with eggs. So I prefer to quote from some of the excellent 

 accounts that have been published. Herbert Brown (1901) gives the 

 fullest account; he says: "The first week in March will frequently 

 find them nesting, and the middle of April preparations for a second 

 brood are well under way, but, taken over a long series of years, the 

 beginning of April generally sees them busy with their first house 

 making. I have never been able to fully determine the exact number 

 of families raised by one pair of birds during a season. Of two there 

 can be no question, but a third is in doubt, although I have known the 

 nesting season to last three full months and a half. To be more exact, 

 February 24 is the earliest and July 18 the latest I have in mind for 

 1 year." 



He has measured at least 200 nests and gives these measurements 

 and other data on 17 of them; the highest of these, there recorded, 

 was about 12 feet from the ground in a mesquite; of the others, in 

 tasajas and chollas, two were 5 feet, one only 22 inches, and the re- 

 mainder between 3 and 4 feet above the ground ; the measurements of 

 these 17 nests varied greatly ; the diameter of the nest proper was 6 to 

 7 inches, but as much as 11 or 12 inches over-all, including the founda- 

 tion twigs; the inside diameter varied 2^4 to 3^^ inches, the inside 

 depth 114 to 314) and the over-all depth 3 to 9 inches. He observed 

 that — 



the larger portion of the nests are in tasajas. This is a species of cactus for 

 which, for the want of a better name, I am obliged to use that of the Mexicans. 

 The word means "dry or jerked beef" which in color and shape the tasaja 

 somewhat resembles. The spines, although innumberable, are short and the 



