40 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



west. It first appears as a bird of the valley of the Eio Grande, and extends 

 from thence southward through Eastern Mexico to Cordova and Orizaba. In 

 Arizona it is replaced by H. imlmeri, H. lecontei, and IT. crissalis, in Cali- 

 fornia by If. redivivus, and at Cape St. Lucas by //. cinereus, while in the 

 United States east of the Rocky Mountains it is represented by its nearer 

 ally H. riifus. 



Habits. The eggs of this species are hardly distinguishable from those 

 of the common Brown Thrasher {H. rufus), of the Atlantic States. The 

 color of their gTOund is a greenish-white, which is thickly, and usually com- 

 pletely, covered with fine markings of a yellowish-brown. They have an 

 average length of 1.13 inches, by .79 in breadth. So far as I have had an 

 opportunity of observing, they do not vary from these measurements more 

 than two per cent in length or one per cent in breadth. Their nests are 

 usually a mere platform of small sticks or coarse stems, with little or no 

 depression or rim, and are placed in low bushes, usually above the upper 

 branches. 



In regard to the distinctive habits of this species I have no information. 



Harporhynchus cinereus, Xantus. 



CAPE ST. LUCAS THRASHER. 



Harporhynchus cinereus, Xantus, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1859, 298. — Baird, lb., 303; Review, 46. 

 — ScLATER, Catal. 1861, 8, no. 49. ^Elliot, Illust., i. pi. i. — Cooper, Birds Cal. 1. 

 19. 



Sp. Char. Bill a.s long as the head ; all the lateral outUnes gently decurved from the 

 base. Bristles not very conspicuous, but reaching to the nostrils. Wings considerably 

 shorter than the tail, much rounded. First primary broad, nearly half the length of the 

 second ; the third to the seventh quills nearly equal, their tips forming the outline of a 

 gentle curve ; the second quill shorter than the ninth. Tail considerably graduated, the 

 lateral feathers more than an inch the shorter. Legs stout; tarsi longer than middle toe, 

 distinctly scutellate, with seven scales. 



Above ashy brown, with perhaps a tinge of rusty on the rump ; beneath fulvous-Avhitc, 

 more fulvous on the flanks, inside of wing, and crissum. Beneath, except chin, throat, 

 and from middle of abdomen to crissum, with well-defined V-shaped spots of dark brown 

 at the ends of the feathers, largest across the breast. Loral region hoary. Wings with 

 two narrow whitish bands across the tips of greater and middle coverts ; the quills edged 

 externally with paler. Outer three tail-feathers with a rather obsolete white patch in the 

 end of inner web, and across the tips of the outei". 



Spring specimens are of rather purer white beneath, with the spots more distinct than 

 as described. 



Length of 12,960 (skin), 10.00; wing, 4.10; tail, 4,65; first primary, 1.60; second, 

 2.50; bill from gape, 1.40, from above, 1.15, from nostril, .90; tarsus, 1.26; middle toe 

 and claw, 1.12 ; claw alone, .30.. 



Hab. Cape St. Lucas, Lower California. 



This species is curiously similar in coloration to Oreoscoptes montanus, from 

 which its much larger size, much longer and decurved bill, and the gradu- 



