• THE CURVE-BILLED THRASHER. 27 



of two, so that when the bird was on. though only six feet from the 

 ground, nothing but its head and tail could be seen. The nest was com- 

 posed of twigs from the size of a lead-pencil down, and lined with dry 

 grasses. This description will apply to the several others found, with 

 this difference : some were smaller, and in this instance greater care was 

 taken to interwine the sticks, so that it would hold well together. 



The shape of the eggs is like that of the brown thrush's, only 

 longer. The ground-color varies from a pale to a rich pea- 

 green. The markings are minute dots of brown, evenly and 

 finely dusted over the entire surface. The largest ^g^ out of 

 twenty measures 1.18 by .So of an inch, the smallest 1.03 by 

 .79. The length ranges from 1.20 to 1.03, averaging 1.12 of 

 an inch. The breadth varies from .82 to .72, averaging .79. 



A race from eastern Arizona has been named Var. palm- 

 ERi, No. iia, by Mr. Ridgway, in honor of Dr. Edward 

 Palmer, who discovered it near Camp Grant, Arizona. Its nests 

 are placed in choya and choUa cacti, and other low bushes, as 

 Capt. Bendire, who took forty-three of them near Tucson in 

 1872, tells me, and are very large for the size of the bird, 

 measuring 9 inches in height by 6 inches in width. The nest is 

 of symmetrical form, is composed externally of a mass of thorny 

 sticks, like an enclosing case, which are so arranged as to guard 

 the sides of the nest while the open top is protected by the liv- 

 ing branches of the cactus itself. Inside, it is lined with mes- 

 quite grass, flax-like fibres and fine rootlets. The cavity is deep. 

 Capt. Bendire secured one nest, which, in addition to the case 

 of thorny sticks around the rim, had the curved thorns of the 

 Turk's-head cactus placed all around, the sharp points turned 

 upward and outward so that it was impossible to put in the hand 

 without pain. This was the most elaborate structure, by far, 

 that he met with. The birds began breeding about May 9, and 

 the last eggs were taken August 5. Never more than three 

 eggs, and often only two, were found in one nest ; they were of 

 the oblong tapering shape of those of H. ctirvirostris, from 

 which, either in size or colors, it would be difficult to certainly 

 distinguish them. 



