THRUSHES. 17 



two eggs with a blue ground thickly covered with soot-colored 

 spots confluent at the larger end, and in coloring not unlike those 

 of the Turdus ^istulatiis^'* (Russet-backed Thrush). "The eggs meas- 

 ured 1.19 inches by .81 of an inch. Dr. Cooper gives their meas- 

 urement as 1. 10 of an inch by .85. Two eggs belonging to the 

 Smithsonian Institution (2,040, a and b) measure, one I.19 by .81, 

 the other 1.14 by .93. The former has a bluish-green ground 

 sparsely spotted with olive brown markings; the other has a ground 

 of a light yellowish-green, with numerous spots of a russet-brown. 



The general character of their nest is, as described, a coarse, 

 rudely-constructed platform of sticks and coarse grass and mosses, 

 with but a very slight depression. Occasionally, however, nests of 

 this bird are more carefully and elaborately made. One (13,072) 

 obtained near Monterey, by Dr. Canfield, has a diameter of 6 inches, 

 a height of 3, with an oblong-oval cavity 2 inches in depth. Its 

 outside was an interweaving of leaves, stems and mosses, and its 

 lining fine, long, fibrous roots. 



These birds are chiefly found frequenting the dense chaparral 

 that lines the hillsides of the California valleys, forming thickets, 

 composed of an almost impenetrable growth of thorny shrubs, and 

 aff'ording an inviting shelter. 



In such places they reside throughout the year, feeding upon in- 

 sects, for the procuring of which their long curved bills are ad- 

 mirably adapted, as also upon the berries which generally abound 

 in these places. Their nests usually contain three eggs." — 

 Baird, Brewer and Ridgway's N. A. Birds, vol. i, pp. 46,47. 

 i6a. harporhynchus redivivus lecontei. 

 LECONTE'S THRASHER. ** 

 17. harporhynchus crissalis. 

 RUPUS-VENTED THRASHER. 



"Dr. Cooper found this species quite common at Fort Mojave, 

 but so very shy that he only succeeded in shooting one, after much 

 watching for it. Their song, general habits, and nest he speaks of 

 as being in every way similar to those of H. redivivus''' (Californian 

 Thrasher). 



The eggs remained unknown until Dr. E. Palmer had the good 

 fortune to find them at St. George, Southern Utah, June 8, 1870, 



