Bird- Lore's Seventeenth Christmas Census 39 



ingbird, 84; Pasadena Thrasher, 4; Rock Wren, i; San Diego Wren, 6; Western House 

 Wren, 2; Tule Wren, 27; Plain Titmouse, 3; Bailey's Mountain Chickadee, 5; California 

 Bush-Tit, 80; Wren-Tit, 11; Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 16; Western Gnatcatcher, 2; 

 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, 4; Dwarf Hermit Thrush, 15; Western Robin, 177; Western 

 Bluebird, Q5; Mountain Bluebird, 28. Total, 105 species, 8,746 individuals. — Mrs. F. 

 T. BiCKNELL and ^NIrs. Robert Fargo; Miss Helen S. Pratt and Mrs. W. L. Brown- 

 lee; Mr. L. E. Wyman; Dr. E. A. Dial and Mrs. Warren Martz; Mr. Alfred 

 Cookman; and Mr. John B. Frederick. 



Notes on the Plumage of North American Birds 



FORTY-SECOND PAPER 

 By FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



(See Frontispiece) 



Crissal Thrasher {Toxostoma crissale, Fig. i). — As with other Thrashers, 

 the sexes of this species are ahke in color and the seasonal changes in color are 

 due only to fading and wear. The summer plumage, aside from being more 

 frayed, is more sandy in tone than that of winter. 



The Juvenal (nestling) plumage closely resembles that of the adult, but is 

 slightly paler below. The succeeding, or first winter plumage, is not distin- 

 guishable from that of the adult. 



The Crissal Thrasher ranges from western Texas to the Pacific coast north- 

 ward as far as southern Utah, and southward into northern Sonora and Lower 

 California. No races of it have been described. 



California Thrasher (Toxostoma redivivwn, Fig. 2). — The above remarks 

 concerning the plumage of the Crissal Thrasher apply also to this species. This 

 bird, however, has a more restricted range, being found only in California and 

 northern Lower California. Our figure (Fig. 2) is unfortunately too brown 

 above and the ventral region and crissum are too deeply colored, faults of 

 reproduction, which apparently cannot at times be avoided. 



Leconte's Thrasher (Toxostoma lecontei, Fig. 3). — In general tone of 

 color Leconte's Thrasher resembles Bendire's Thrasher. It is, however, even 

 paler than that species (and hence is the palest of all the Thrashers) and the 

 underparts are unspotted. 



So far as the adults are concerned, the slight color changes in the plumage of 

 this species are the same as those of other Thrashers. The juvenal plumage, 

 however, is somewhat more fulvous both above and below than that of the 

 mature bird. 



Two races of this species are recognized, Toxostoma lecontei lecontei to which 

 the name Leconte's Thrasher is restricted, and Toxostoma lecontei arenicola, the 

 Desert Thrasher, a slightly darker form. The first inhabits the deserts of south- 

 ern California, southern Nevada and southward into northern Sonora, and to 

 San Felipe Bay in Lower California. The second is said to be confined to the 

 deserts of Lower California lying between latitudes 28° and 30°. 



