422 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



6 feet. * * * From brief observation I should say that individual birds 

 nest near the same spot year after year. Nearly every nest found was near 

 from one to three old nests, probably belonging to the same bird as no new 

 nests were ever found close to each other. In one case three nests were 

 found in the same tree — one new and two old ones. 



Nests have also been found in other bushes, such as atriplex, 

 greasewood, wild currant, and ironwood, but never, I believe, in 

 cactus; and they are generally in thick bushes and well concealed. 

 Mr. Gilman (1909) says of the many nests he has noted, 27 were 

 in mesquites, "one was on top of a stump but hidden by dense, 

 sprouting twigs. Eleven were in 'squawberry' bushes, four in 

 greasewood, one in a palo verde, one in a mistletoe, and one in a 

 low brush fence." 



Eggs. — The complete set of eggs for the crissal thrasher may con- 

 sist of two, three, or four, most commonly two or three. These vary 

 from ovate to elliptical-ovate and have very little gloss. They look 

 much like robin's eggs, darker and greener when fresh in the nest and 

 fading to paler shades of bluish green or greenish blue when older. 

 Eggs that I have seen in the cabinet are usually a pale shade of robin's- 

 ^^g blue, "pale Nile blue," or "beryl blue." They differ from all other 

 thrashers' eggs in being entirely unmarked. The measurements of 50 

 eggs in the United States National Museum average 26.8 by 19.2 milli- 

 meters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 30.5 by 19.8, 28.5 

 by 20.8, 24.3 by 19.7 and 25.9 by 17.8 millimeters. 



Young. — Both sexes share the duties of incubation and care of 

 the young. The long breeding season, from February to June or 

 July, indicates that at least two broods are reared in a season. Mr. 

 Gilman (1909) watched a nest from the time that the two eggs 

 were laid until the young birds left the nest, a nesting period of 

 30 days. "The set was completed April 6. At 6 a. m., April 20, 

 one young was just out of the shell and the other egg pipped. At 6 

 p. m., the same date, both young were opening their mouths and 

 trying to swallow my finger. No eggshell could be found. May 6th 

 both young birds left the nest." 



Mrs. Wlieelock (1904) writes: "The young Thrashers hatch in 

 14 days. They are naked, except for the faintest suggestion of down 

 on head and back, and are fed by regurgitation until four days old. 

 On the ninth day the young are feathered all but the wings and 

 tail, which still wear their sheaths, and the featherless tracts which are 

 on all young birds. The iris of the eye is white at this time, but 

 gradually becomes straw-color like that of the adult. Unless 

 startled into an earlier exit, the Thrasher nestlings do not leave the 

 cradle until 11 or 12 days old, and even then they hide in the bushes 

 for many ensuing days, helplessly waiting to be fed by the adult." 



Plumages. — Young crissal thrashers in ju venal plumage are very 



