c6 Merriam, The LeConte Thrasher. f^ 



sought as cage birds by both Indians and whites. Probably two 

 broods are reared in a season — judging from the widely different 

 dates at which evidences of breeding were found. On April 29, 

 I shot a two-thirds grown young in Pahrump Valley, Nevada, 

 after a long and tiresome chase — partly on horseback and partly 

 on foot. It was among the creosote bushes {Larrea) at the lower 

 edge of the yuccas on the east side of the valley. The parent 

 and two young were seen. On May i, I killed a full grown 

 young in Vegas Valley, Nevada. A week later (May 7), Mr. 

 Bailey found a fresh nest in an arborescent cactus {Opuntia 

 echinocarpa) at the foot of the high mesa on the east side of 

 Muddy Creek, near St. Joe, Nevada. The parent bird was seen 

 to leave the nest, but the eggs had not yet been laid. I hid 

 behind a creosote bush and waited until the bird returned, which 

 she did by running silently over the ground and climbing up to 

 the nest so cautiously that, though watching the nest all the time, 

 I did not see her until she settled upon it. The next day. May 

 8, Mr. F. Stephens, another member of the expedition, found a 

 nest containing 3 nearly fresh eggs between Owens Lake and 

 Little Lake, Inyo Co., California. The nest was in a branching 

 cactus about 2\ feet from the ground. He saw a brood of nearly 

 grown young the same day, and also observed both nests and 

 young in Salt Wells Valley, on the northern edge of the Mohave 

 Desert. On May 28, Mr. Bailey found a deserted nest in an 

 arborescent cactus in Indian Spring Valley, Nevada. A month 

 later (June 27), I discovered a nest containing two half-grown 

 young in Antelope Valley at the west end of the Mohave Desert, 

 California. Like the others, it was in a branching cactus less 

 than a meter above the ground. One of the two young was a 

 little larger than the other. The smaller of the two is figured in 

 the accompanying colored plate. ^ It is thus evident that the 

 breeding season covers at least three months — Mr. Stephens 

 makes it even longer. Whether this indicates that more than one 

 brood is reared, or that the date of nesting is subject to much 

 irregularity, or both, the facts at hand are not sufficient to 



' The adult shown on the same plate was killed by Dr. A. K. Fisher at 

 Resting Spring on the edge of the Amargosa Desert, F^eb. 7, 1891. 



