BIRDS OF AMERICA 



in all, the Brown Thrasher is a useful bird, and 

 probably does as good work in its secluded 



'. iv. joD (^^ouriesy of Outing Pub. Co 



MALE BROWN THRASHER 

 Shielding young from the hot sun 



retreats as it would about the garden, for the 

 swamps and groves are no doubt the breeding 

 grounds of many insects that migrate thence to 

 attack the crops of the farmer. 



Sennett's Thrasher ( Toxostorna longirostre 

 sennctti) is similar to the Brown Thrasher, but 

 larger, with the brown of the upper parts less red 

 and more golden and the under parts whiter. It 

 is a bird of northeastern Mexico, the Rio Grande 

 valley, and the Gulf coast district of Texas. In 

 the same part of the United States, but dis- 

 tributed over more territory in Mexico, is the 

 Curve-billed Thrasher {Toxostorna curvirostrc 

 ciirvirostrc). His upper parts are plain brown- 

 ish gray (clay-color), tail, blackish with four 

 feathers on each side abruptly tipped with white ; 

 his under parts are buffy-white, deepening into 

 pale brownish-buff on the flanks and lower 

 regions and with the chest, breast, and upper 

 abdomen spotted with pale brownish-gray. 



BENDIRE'S THRASHER 



Toxostorna bendirei (Coues) 



General Description. — Length, g]% inches. Upper 

 parts, grayish-brown ; under parts, buffy-white with 

 streaks of dark. Bill, about length of head, curved 

 downward at the end ; wnigs, rather short and rounded ; 

 tail, decidedly longer than wing and rounded. 



Color. — Above, plain light yrayish-brozvn, the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts, paler, the wings and tail, slightly 

 darker; middle and greater wing-coverts, indistinctly 

 tipped with paler, and wing quills narrowly edged with 

 the same; inner web of exterior tail-feathers rather 

 broadly tipped with dull white, the outer web much 

 more narrowly tipped with the same — the remaining 

 tail-feathers (except middle pair) similarly tipped witli 

 whitish, but to a less extent, gradually disappearing 

 toward middle feathers ; sides of head, similar in color 

 to upper parts but paler over the eyes and on lores, 

 and around the ears narrowly streaked with dull whit- 

 ish ; cheeks and under parts, dull buffy-white, passing 

 into decided brownish-buff on flanks, anal region, and 

 lower tail-coverts; chest (sometimes sides of lower 

 throat also) with sliarply defined small wedge-shaped 



streaks of grayish-brown, the breast more sparsely 

 marked with more roundish spots of a paler grayish- 

 brown, the flanks sometimes indistinctly streaked with 

 the same; sides of throat, margined with a series of 

 wedge-shaped streaks or small spots of grayish-brown ; 

 under wing-coverts, light buffy wood-brown ; bill, 

 dusky horn-color ; iris, yellow. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In the desert trees and 

 bushes, but tlie customary site is in the cholla cactus 

 about three feet from the ground ; small and daintily 

 built in contrast to the nests of others of the genus; 

 composed exteriorly of the regulation sticks, twigs, and 

 grasses and lined with soft materials — wool, feathers, 

 horsehair, fine rootlets, and grasses. Eggs : 3 or 4, 

 generally greenish-white, sometimes grayish or pinkish- 

 white, spotted usually most thickly around larger end 

 with reddish-brown, lavender-gray, and drab. 



Distribution. — Desert districts of Arizona, and 

 southeastern California (Colorado Desert) and north- 

 ern Mexico; winters in Mexico; accidental in Colo- 

 rado. 



While at Tucson, Arizona, one of the first 

 problems of identifying birds of the cacttis was 

 to distinguish Bendire's Thrasher from Palmer's 

 Thrasher {Toxostorna curvirostre palmcri). 

 From any manual of identification, you will find 

 that the birds look almost exactly alike, except 

 Bendire's Thrasher is a trifle smaller, and its 

 bill is a little shorter than that of Palmer's. But, 



with these slight differences, it is practically 

 impossible to tell one bird from the other. I soon 

 discovered a difference, however, when I began 

 examining the nests of the two birds. Palmer's 

 Thrasher builds a large bulky nest and, about 

 Tucson, it is found almost entirely in the cholla 

 cactus. The lower part of the nest is made of 

 rough sticks with a lining of fine grasses. The 



