26 JVBSTS AND EGGS OF BIRDS. 



tinguishable from those of H. rtifus. The typical egg has a 

 ground-color of the faintest greenish-white and is speckled all 

 over with russet and brown, the dotting being amassed so as 

 to form a cap over the larger end. Several sets were obtained 

 by Mr. Sennett with the ground-color yellowish-white, and so 

 thickly speckled as to have a genei'al color of ochre ; one set 

 is nearly pure white, speckled thickly only in the form of a 

 wreath at the larger end, otherwise very sparsely and faintly 

 marked. The largest egg was 1.12 by .84 of an inch, and 

 the smallest i.oi by .75; the average length was 1.07, and 

 breadth .78. Their shape is round and blunt. 



11. THE CURVE-BILLED THRASHER. 

 HARPORHYNCHUS CURVIROSTRIS {S-jj.) Cab. 



This species, called " curve-billed" by way of emphasis, for 

 the bills of all this genus are greatly bowed, is distributed from 

 western Texas to the Colorado river. As mentioned above, its 

 nest is similar to the mocking-bird's. In Durango, Mexico, Lieut. 

 Couch is said to have found their nests as early as February', but 

 near Brownsville, Texas, the mean date is not much before May 

 I , while the two sets found by Capt. Charles Bendire, U.S.A., in 

 Arizona, were on July 18 and Aug. 20. This is a remarkable dis- 

 parity, and Capt. Bendire's eggs were probably those of a sec- 

 ond laying. The ordinary breeding-place is a secluded thicket, 

 clump of chaparral, dense cactus or como tree, upon the pulpy 

 fruit of which it feeds. In such position it finds the most pei'fect 

 protection. One nest found by Mr. Sennett at Hidalgo, April 1 7, 

 was beneath the roof in the broken side of a thatched outhouse 

 in the very heart of the village, and he writes : 



A more exposed place for human view could not be found, nor was 

 there in the village a yard more frequented by children ; yet I could not 

 imagine a safer retreat from its more natural enemies — hawks, jays, 

 etc. The female was shot as she came from the nest; and with little 

 difficulty I took the nest entire, with its complement of four beautiful, 

 fresh eggs. The average size of the nest was about that of an ordinary 

 four-quart measure, although, from its irregular shape, it would not set 

 into one. Its depth outside was fully six inches, with an inside depth 



