^8 Mf.RRIAM. The LeConte Thrasher. \_^^^. 



ence among the spiny branches of the common ' cholla,' a small 

 arborescent cactus ( Opantia echinocarpa), at a height rarely 

 more than a meter above the ground. The covered woven nest of 

 the Cactus Wren {Heleodytes brunneicapillHs) is often found in the 

 same cactus. 



It is interesting from the evolutional standpoint that the 

 strongly curved bill of the LeConte Thrasher is a peculiarity of 

 the adult; the young in the nest show no trace of it. This is well 

 illustrated in the accompanying bill outlines, all of which are 

 natural size. Figs. 4 and 5 are from the two young taken from 

 the nest in the Mohave Desert June 27. Fig. 3, showing the 

 earliest trace of the curvature, is from the two-thirds grown 

 young killed in Pahrump Valley, Nevada, April 29. Fig. 2, 

 showing the next step in the development of the curve, is from 

 the young killed in Vegas Valley, Nevada, May i ; and Fig. i is 

 the bill of an adult killed by Dr. A. K. Fisher at Resting Spring, 

 California, February 7. 



As stated by Dr. Fisher, the LeConte Thrasher is probably 

 resident wherever found, since it was obtained in winter at the 

 northern limit of its breeding range and old nests were seen 

 at or near most places where the birds themselves were noted. 

 Furthermore, the absence of records from Mexico, except within 

 its breeding range in northwestern Sonora, only a short distance 

 south of our border, is additional evidence that it does not migrate. 



Geographic Distribution. — In its faunal relations the LeConte 

 Thrasher belongs to the arid Lower Sonoran Zone, as do most of 

 its congeners ; but it does not inhabit the whole of this zone, being 

 restricted to the part that extends westward from central Arizona 

 to the east base of the Great Divide in California. It overlaps the 

 Divide at two points. Walker Pass, where I found it on the west 

 slope about four miles below the summit ; and the upper San 

 Joaquin Valley, where Mr. Nelson found it on the south side of 

 Buena Vista Lake and thence west and northwest for 15 or 18 

 miles toward the Temploa Mountains. The latter is an isolated 

 colony. Mr. F. Stephens has traced it southward along the west- 

 ern edge of the Colorado desert, and has also found it near Cape 

 Lobos, Sonora, about 125 miles south of the Arizona border — the 

 only record for Mexico. On the east. Dr. F. A. Mearns has 



