THE OOLOGIST 



Its note resembles the noise made by driv- 

 ing a stake into the ground ; hence its name 

 in some sections, of " Stake-driver." The 

 note may be represented by the syllables : 

 "• chunk- a-hmk- chunk, quank." This note 

 is uttvred in the spring, during the breed- 

 ing season, and on calm, clear nights may 

 be heard a long way. At other times it is 

 a very silent bird, uttering when alarmed, 

 a single note like " quark." 



They make their first appearance in the 

 north about the 15th of April, and by the 

 10th or 12th of May the eggs are laid and 

 incubation commenced. 



'J'heir flesh is not highly esteemed as a 

 table luxury, and such is the prejudice a- 

 gainst it that I doubt if the ardent natural- 

 ist, desirous of testing its qualifications as 

 an article of food, would find it an easy 

 matter to persuade his wife or house-keep- 

 er to cook it for him. 



The above remarks are based on obser- 

 vations made in the northern part of Illi- 

 nois. 



(FIG. 2.) 



The Curve - billed Thrush ( Har- 



porhynchus curvirostris), its 



Nest and Eggs. 



BY. GEO. B. SENNET^T. 



[Advance sheets of Notes of 1878 on the Ornithol- 

 ogy of the Lower Rio Grande.] 



fTlHIS Thrush, by some called the Gray 

 Curve-bill, reaches into our southern 

 border from Mexico, and its limit within 

 the United States, so far as is known, is 

 confined to the valley of the lower Rio 

 Grande. Its nearest relative. Palmer's 

 Thrush (var. pahneri) and other curve-bill- 

 ed forms of the genus are found in the high- 

 er latitudes of New Mexico and Arizona. 

 The northern limit of this Thrush is not 

 fully determined, but it can only be consid- 

 ered common in southern Texas, and most 

 abundant between Fort Brown and Ring- 

 gold Barracks near the river. The great 

 alluvial deposits here produce berries and 

 insects in abundance for food ; and tangled 



thickets as well as great prickly pear cac- 

 tuses for cover and breeding resorts. In 

 1877 1 collected from Hidalgo nearly down 

 to the mouth of the river. In the follow- 

 ing season I was for some weeks at a point 

 several miles above Hidalgo in the heart of 

 the greatest growth of timber to be found 

 on the river ; and it was here that I found 

 the Curve-billed Thrush more numerous 

 than ever before. In point of numbers it 

 nearly equaled the Mocking-bird and Long- 

 billed Thrush or Texas Thrasher. The 

 three species comprise all the varieties of 

 the family observed by me in that locality. 



The Ciu've-billed Thrush in color nearly 

 resembles the JNIocking-bird ; and in the 

 bushes, where its longer tail and curved 

 bill are not readily distinguished, may be 

 taken for it at short range. This species 

 is usually more fond of dense cover than 

 the Mocking-bird, and while not often found 

 in the heaviest timber, yet will be found in 

 the thickets commonly on the margins of 

 such tracts. In open woodland, where 

 clumps of tall thorny bushes and cacti sur- 

 round the scattered trees, it will surely be 

 found, and probably in company with the 

 Long-billed Thrush. 



I did not obtain many fresh plumagcd 

 specimens. By the first of April the plu- 

 mage becomes faded and much worn, and 

 by the latter part of May they commence 

 to moult. About this time also the small 

 black fruit or berry of the como tree, upon 

 which they feed, ripens, and it becomes al- 

 most impossible to shoot and prepare a spec- 

 imen without the plumage becoming stain- 

 ed with the purple juices. I brought home 

 from this trip five birds and forty sets of 



In nesting, their habits vary to suit the 

 locality. In sections where the chaparral 

 covers the country, and where no respect- 

 able growth of timber is found, save now 

 and then in openings principally occupied 

 by cactus and scattering mezquite trees ; 

 their nests will be found in cactus, more 

 frequently perhaps, than in trees. But at 

 Somita Ranche I found five nests in trees 

 to one in the cactus. 



