398 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



the middle or latter part of May the second sets consist nearly always 

 of three. A few sets of four were found of the second laying. Five 

 sets of these eggs are in my cabinet, taken near Camargo, Mexico, in 

 March, April and May. They vary from oval-oblong to almost pyri- 

 form in shape, and their ground-color is almost invariably light bluish- 

 green, minutely speckled with reddish-brown. The sizes of two sets 

 are as follows: i.oix.73, i.oox.75, 1.02 x. 79, i.iox.75; i.iox.79, 

 i.iox.Si, 1. 15 x. 83, i.i3x.8i. The average size is i.o8x.78. 



707#. Harporhynchus curvirostris palmeri RIDGW. [150.] 



Palmer's Thrasher. 



Hab. Southern Arizona, southward into Sonora (Guaymas). 



One of the most common birds on the cactus-covered plains of 

 Arizona. The breeding season in some sections begins in February, 

 in other localities early in March, and generally two broods are reared 

 in a season. 



The nests are usually built in the cholla, a kind of prickly cactus, 

 at a height of about three to six feet. It is composed of twigs 

 and lined with dry grass ; sometimes the lining is mixed with hair or 

 feathers when procurable. 



According to the observations of Mr. W. B. D. Scott and Mr. 

 Herbert Brown, the usual number of eggs laid by Palmer's Thrasher 

 is three, sometimes four, not infrequently two and rarely one. The 

 eggs cannot with certainty be distinguished from those of the Curve- 

 billed Thrasher. The sizes of a set of eggs containing the smallest 

 specimens in a series of twenty-one sets in Mr. Norris' collection are, 

 i.io x .78, 1.09 x .78, 1.13 x .78 ; the largest 1.24 x .81, 1.20 x .79, 



1.16 x .79. 



708. Harporhynchus bendirei COUES. [ 140.] 



Bendire's Thrasher. 



Hab. Southern Arizona, south into Sonora (Guaymas), casually northeastward to Colorado. 



Captain Charles K. Bendire, U. S. A., discovered this species in 

 the vicinity of Tucson, Arizona, in 1872. The bird inhabits the same 

 regions frequented by H. palmeri and crissalis, with whom it associates. 

 Mr. Scott states that the song of the male of this species is particularly 

 beautiful, and is to be compared with the best efforts of the Mocking- 

 bird. 



The nests are placed in mesquites and cactuses, usually at a height 

 of three or four feet above the ground. The colla cactus is their favorite 

 nesting-site. The breeding season begins early in March, and two 

 broods are generally reared in a season. 



The eggs are three or four, rarely two, in number. In the exten- 

 sive private collection of Mr. J. Parker Norris, so frequently referred 



