IQ6 Brewster on Birds from Arizona and Mexico. [April 



ADDITIONAL NOTES ON SOME BIRDS COLLECTED 



IN ARIZONA AND THE ADJOINING PROVINCE 



OF SONORA, MEXICO, BY MR. F. STEPHENS 



IN 1884; WITH A DESCRIPTION OF A 



NEW SPECIES OF ORTTX. 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



In the last number of 'The Auk'* I announced several addi- 

 tions to our bird-fauna made by Mr. Stevens in Arizona during 

 the collecting season of 1884. The following notes embrace what 

 I have to add on the subject. Late in the summer Mr. Stephens 

 crossed the boundary into Mexico, traversing the Province of 

 Sonora in a south-westerly direction to Port| Lobos, on the 

 Gulf of California. As he has kindly promised a detailed account 

 of this trip for publication in l The Auk,' I shall mention here 

 only a few of its more important results, especially such as have 

 a bearing on our fauna, either by extending the known range of 

 Arizona birds southward, or that of Mexican birds northward. 



Harporhynchus curvirostris palmeri Ridgvj. Palmer's Thrasher. — 

 An adult male in worn breeding plumage, taken at Altar, Sonora, Mexico, 

 Aug 14, seems to be perfectly typical of this form, which, if I am not mis- 

 taken, has not been previously found south of the United States. 



Haporhynchus lecontii Bonap. Lecoxte's Thrasher. — The occur- 

 rence of this species well within the boundary of Mexico is attested by 

 four specimens taken about fifteen miles inland from Port Lobos. These 

 birds are in a plumage unlike any that I have previously seen. The upper 

 parts are deep ashy-, almost bluish-, drab, scarcely, if at all, tinged with 

 brown or yellow. The wings are nearly concolor with the back, the tail 

 much darker, in fact plumbeous-brown. The throat is white, in decided 

 contrast with the breast and sides, which are nearly as dark as the back 

 and of somewhat the same color, but tinged with ochrey. The abdom- 

 inal region is brownish-white; the crissum, under tail-coverts, and flanks 

 are strongly rusty. 



Three of these specimens were shot Aug. 19; the fourth Aug. 21. Mr. 

 Stephens is firm in the belief that they represent a form sub-specifically 

 distinct from that of Arizona and California. This, however, seems to 

 me improbable, from the fact that they all have more or less extensive 

 patches of pallid, sand-colored feathers, which match perfectly those of 

 the summer plumage of H. lecontii (either adults or young in first plu- 

 mage). As these pallid feathers are clearly the remnants of a plumage 



* Vol. II, No. 1, Jan. 1885, pp. 84, 85, 



t So spelled on the labels of his specimens. Possibly Point, or Cape, Lobos! 



