LECONTE'S THRASHER 415 



The next 3 years were dry on the desert and I saw only six nests, though fre- 

 quently in their territory. 



A nest found by Dr. Mearns (1886) between Casa Grande and 

 Sweet Water was "placed in a mesquite, at a height of 6 or 8 feet. It 

 rested upon a fork and received additional support from a neighboring 

 branch. It was composed of fine grasses and weeds, the inner nest 

 resting upon a mass of large sticks, loosely placed. The nest-lining was 

 of grass and a few feathers." 



Tlie nests found by Dr. Grinnell (1933) in the San Joaquin Valley 

 were all in saltbushes {Atriplex polycarpa) . Of the first nest he says : 

 "The nest bush was one of a row of large-sized atriplex bushes growing 

 irregularly along the edges of a meandering gully in the bottom of 

 a shallow draw. * * * The nest was not in the center of the bush, 

 but was situated in the dense tangle of twigs about 700 mm. east of 

 its axis, resting among the complexly branching stems which varied 

 in slant from nearly horizontal to nearly vertical." The nest was 550 

 mm. below the crown of the bush and 670 mm. above the ground. 

 Grinnell continues : 



The substructure * * * consisted of straggling, dry twigs, long and varyingly 

 slender, hardly distinguishable at the periphery from the surrounding dense leafless 

 twiggery of the bush itself. How the bird could have managed the construction 

 of this basal shell in such close quarters, so as to provide the proper space for 

 the nest-proper, it was difficult for me to imagine. The inside diameter of the 

 nest cup was 95 mm., depth from its solid rim, 60 mm. The entire inside cup 

 was astonishingly firm, almost as if made of mud ; it consisted of atriplex leaves 

 and weathered bits of newspaper packed together so as to be of almost the firm- 

 ness of pulp-board. Possibly the rains of the preceding month had had some- 

 thing to do with yielding this result ; but even so, there was no resemblance at all 

 to the porous, open-work, inner lining of a California Thrasher's nest — nothing 

 for the young birds to clinch their toes and claws through. In this nest there 

 was also a sharply distinguishable intermediate layer, of long fine grass stems 

 and slender twigs ; but none of this material reached the inner wall. 



At San Felipe, Baja California, Laurence M. Huey (1927) found 

 occupied nests "in ocotillo, cholla cactus, fruitea, smoke bush and iron- 

 wood trees, while old nests were found in nearly all the species of brush, 

 tree.s or cactus that offered size enough for protection." 



Eggs. — Two to four eggs constitute a full set for LeConte's thrasher. 

 Mr. Gilman (1904) says that the "usual set contains three eggs but four 

 are not uncommon and two are sometimes found. Of the records made 

 I find 6 sets of 4 eggs, 12 of 3, and 4 of 2 — complete sets as advanced in- 

 cubation showed." They vary in shape from ovate to short ovate, 

 or elongate ovate, and are sometimes somewhat pointed at the smaller 

 end. They have a very slight gloss. 



The eggs are somewhat similar to those of the California thrasher 

 or those of Palmer's thrasher ; they are smaller than the former and 

 about the size of the latter ; but they are usually less heavily marked 

 than either. The ground color is light greenish blue or light bluish 



